Experimental Love
by Camfield
Summary: AU Jack and Maddie have been working on creating a halfghost, halfhuman for a long time, but what happens when they succeed. An experimental toy is what they wanted, but something went wrong. Smart and aware, Phantom238 latches onto Danny.SLASH PitchPearl
1. Introduction Chappie

Kyuugi: Alright everlybody!! This is an actual chapter story!! YAYS!!

Iisha: We figured that we might as well put this one up while waiting for writers block to clear on our other one.

Kyuugi: This is just the intro chapter, I'll try to make the subsequent chapters a bit longer for ya'lls!

Iisha: And of course we will try to make updates weekly, or bi-weekly at the latest. Sadly being a broke college student with finals coming up we make no guarantees...

Kyuugi: But I will try with all my mighty might to prioritize you guys!!!

DISCLAIMER!!!: I NO OWNIES!!! Iffin' I did, there would be lots more smoochin' 'tween a couple 'o look-a-like teens!!

Warning: This is a SLASH story, or will be eventually. That means guys touching guys, and girls touching girls, though not so much on the latter one. I hope that if this offends you, you wont read this story, and if you do read this story that you will be mature enough to realize that I DID warn you at the beginning so you really have no reason to complain.

Flames are welcomed and accepted. I have to feed Axel something...

* * *

**Experimental Love**

Just because it was 3 in the morning was no reason to delay science. Maddie and Jack were hard at work in their laboratory, finishing up the systems check on their experiment. This particular experiment was now on the latest of many, many tries. Corrections to data had been made, and calculations had been re-processed, so they were ready to try again.

Maddie tapped a few more keys on the keypad in front of her, and adjusted a knob on the machine to her left. Everything seemed to be in order, and seemed to be ready for this latest attempt.

Jack was checking the tubes and wires attached to the Stasis Chamber one more time, making sure everything was attached properly and that none of the wires were bent or frayed.

Danny was hiding just outside the door, watching his parents through a small glass window. His parents had been nearly obsessed with this particular experiment for much longer then the rest, and he wanted to see what it was.

After checking everything over a third time, Jack gave Maddie a thumbs up.

Maddie nodded and pressed a small button on the top of the keypad she still held, the machines in the room springing to life with clicks and whirs. They all watched carefully as a glowing green goo was injected into the chamber.

Danny recognized it as Ectoplasm, a common substance when dealing with ghostly apparitions, as his parents often did. Danny watched as electric bolts were shot through the Ectoplasm, causing it to twist and turn. Danny was sure that had the Ectoplasm had a mouth, it would be screaming. The whole ordeal looked rather painful to him.

As the bolts increased in frequency, so did the actions of the goo. It's motions turned almost frantic as it threw itself against the glass walls of the chamber.

Maddie pressed another button on her keypad and a light yellow substance was injected into the chamber along with the Ectoplasm.

That stuff Danny didn't recognize, but he figured that it was another of his parent's discoveries or inventions.

The Ectoplasm started to wrap it's writhing mass around the yellow substance, after a short time, it had encased the other mass and was starting to change color.

It's color went from glowing green, to a paler green, to a yellow green, to yellow, to a paler yellow, and finally, to white.

Danny's mouth dropped open as he saw the shape inside the chamber now. It looked like a human baby! Granted the white skin was a bit creepy, but still, the form was most definitely human.

Jack started re-checking the tubes and wires while Maddie kept an eye on the medical equiptment monitoring the chamber. After Jack finished he nodded to Maddie and she tapped another button, causing an increase in the machine noises as they were pushed into higher and harder functions.

The baby started to glow green again, and Danny looked at it in awe. His parents had just CREATED that baby! Too cool!

The baby started to grow.

Danny couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl, the baby was still curled up in a fetal position, but it was most certainly getting bigger.

Now it was a toddler, thick white hair covering it's head.

Now a small child, more like five, or six, and still growing.

Danny watched as the child kept growing, limbs getting longer, baby fat melting away, hair now at it's mid-back...

Beautiful. That was what it was.

The child kept on growing, now probably about ten. Still curled up, it's hair floating around it's head like a strange halo, Danny could make out no defining feature that pinned it as one gender or the other.

Danny was breathless, this was too amazing for words.

Maddie punched in a code on her keypad, the machines dying down for a second, before they screeched back to full power.

Jack turned toward Maddie with a questioning look in his eyes. She shook her head and tried the code again. The machines stayed on, not even acknowledging the override.

She tried a different code, worry becoming more pronounced in her movements.

The child kept growing.

Danny watched his parents try to stop the machines for a second, before turning his attention back to the beautiful child in the chamber.

It was now a teen, though there was no muscle definition. It had never walked, never done anything, not really even breathed yet, so there was no built muscle, only smooth white skin, and incredibly long white hair.

Maddie abandoned her keypad and pressed the manual override button. Nothing happened. As with the keypad codes, the machines weren't recognizing the override.

The teen was still growing.

It was hard to tell it's age, for Danny could not see any features, and the body was nearly completely obstructed by the long white hair that was floating about it, but Danny guessed it to be an older teen, based on the one part of the body he had seen clearly.

It's foot. It's fairly LARGE foot.

Maddie shook her head at Jack and rushed to the chamber, flipping switches and pushing buttons like crazy, trying to get a response.

Jack pulled her back, a bit roughly, and pulled the wires connecting the chamber to the machines. The machines stopped abruptly and the green glow around the teen went out immediately, plunging the room into a pseudo darkness, with only the emergency lights glowing a soft red in the corners.

Maddie pressed a hand to her eyes, pushing back the tears she felt there. They had been SO close that time. SO close. Everything had been calculated, and re-calculated, and re-re-calculated. So much time and effort into this experiment, and each time something went wrong. Each time they ended up with a brain dead, or deformed specimen that they had to 'dispose' of. Well, Jack 'disposed' of, Maddie couldn't anymore, she got too emotional and ended up in tears for days, impeding the research they needed to get done.

Jack wrapped his arms around Maddie. Letting her cry for another experiment lost. They had been working on this one for years. They were close, but just not close enough, and Jack was afraid that Maddie would break down soon. She was a Mother first of all, and the maternal instincts she felt for each specimen ment it was twice as hard for her to see them 'disposed' of. She had said once that she felt like she was killing one of her own children each time it happened. It was hard for her, and Jack was afraid that she would break before she asked him to stop the experiments.

Each time he suggested they take a break from them however, Maddie would shake her head and plunge back in, with or without his help.

Danny watched his parents hold each other. He felt the loss, maybe not as much as they did, but still enough to feel a few tears slip down his own cheeks.

Danny looked at the beautiful white hair still floating around the teen once more, then turned and silently slipped back up to bed.

Maddie pushed back from her husband and looked at the teen in the chamber.

"He was the best one yet." she said with a wavering voice.

Jack pulled back the hood of her suit and stroked her hair gently. "Yeah. He was."

Jack pushed Maddie towards the door, "Go on up to bed Mads, I'll take care of him."

Maddie started walking, then hesitated near the door. "Leave him till morning Jack, we're both tired, and he'll still be here in the morning."

Jack was about to object, saying it was better to get rid of it right away, but stopped when he saw his wife's face. She didn't want to be alone. Even though it wouldn't take but an hour or two to dispose of the body, she didn't want to face going to an empty bed, where she would think about what she could have done to correct the experiment BEFORE it had gone too far.

She couldn't be alone.

So Jack nodded and stepped out the Lab door behind Maddie, closing it and following her up to their bedroom, his arm around her tight, hunched shoulders.

* * *

Kyuugi: Like I said, this is just the into chapter, so be paitient ne?

Iisha: This will not be a small story. If you are looking for a quick DP/DF fix check out our other stories, or go read Dreams by Regigod.

Kyuugi: It will also be a bumpy ride. We're talking emotional problems here folks.

Iisha: Lots of hurt feelings, cussing out of teachers, thoughts of self-mutilation...

Kyuugi: Kind of an angsty thing, alright?

Iisha: You have been properly warned. I hope that some of you all will stay though.

Kyuugi: Till we meet again!!!

Axel: REVIEW!!!!


	2. Gym Sucks

Kyuugi: Wazzuuuuppp!!!

Iisha: Took a bit longer then we expected, but it got up.

Kyuugi: Sorry about that guys!! We though we had one more week on something due last week...

Iisha: Had to pull everything out of our asses at the last minute. Not fun. Do not do things in college like we do.

Kyuugi: Yeah, you end up with half of everything and all of nothing, and it comes back to bite you in the end.

Iisha: But whatever right! You guys want the STORY!!!

Kyuugi: Yeah!!! STORY!!!

Iisha: YEAH!!! Totally a filler chapter...

Kyuugi: YEah!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

Iisha: But I needed Danny to get beat up in a nondescript manner, so having Dash and Kwan push---

Kyuugi: HEY!!! NO TELLING!!!

Iisha: Right... On with the chapter!

WARNING: WILL BE SSSSSLLLLLLLAAAAASSSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! SLASH for those who couldn't read that So if you no likie boy doing to boy and boy getting by boy then you should probably leave. Leave now.

DISCLAIMER: I NO OWN!!!! Iffin' I did there would be a lot more smoochin' tween a couple 'o look-a-like teens.

* * *

Danny was troubled. 

He knew his parents had left the creature in the chamber, both of them had gone to bed almost right after he had, there was no way they could have... gotten rid of it so quickly.

So the question was, where had it gone?

His parents were still sleeping, it was only 6am, Danny just hadn't been able to sleep. He had tossed around in bed for a bit, before heading back down to the lab.

Danny had been surprised to find that there was nothing in the chamber.  
All of the emergency lights were still glowing softly, and the equipment was still unplugged, so there was no way to have opened the chamber without making a huge mess. The fluid inside of the chamber would be all over the floor.

Yet, there was no mess, and no creature.

Danny looked carefully around the lab. Eyes searching for anything that could be considered suspicious.

His eyes found nothing out of the ordinary, but scientists were cautious, thorough, and always double-checked everything, or at least, so said his parents. So Danny swept his eyes across the room again.

Nothing.

Danny gave a short sigh, though he didn't differentiate between relief and dissapointment.

He stepped in front of the chamber, searching for even a white hair to prove that he really had seen something. That his parents really had created something in that chamber.

Nothing.

Danny turned away from the glass, disappointed and confused, and trekked slowly back up to bed.

* * *

Danny walked slowly through the halls at school that day.

Nothing seemed interesting today, nothing annoyed him today, even his two best friends, Tucker Foley and Samantha(Sam) Manson, had been unable to garner his attention.

Sam had finally gotten fed up with Danny's inatention at lunch and after the fifth or sixth "I'm sorry Sam, could you repeat that?" and the even less eloquent "Huh?" she had told him that when he could carry on a conversation worthy of a caveman to find them.

Or at least, Danny thought that was what she had said.

So after having gotten another detention added to an already long list because he answered a question "peanut butter" in Lancer's class, Danny was finally trudging towards his last class of the day. Gym.

Gym, which, like most of his other classes, had a myriad of his social enemies in it, mainly Dash and Kwan, was guaranteed to suck.

Or blow, depending on your preference.

Gym always sucked, of course, pretty much _because_ of Dash and Kwan. Danny wasn't BAD at sports, or running, or athletics in general, it was just that certain people made sure to humiliate, maim, or destroy anyone not in their social group who showed athletic prowess. So those who were smart, or interested in getting through high-school intact, chose the easy, well broken in niche of non-althletics, or as the jocks said, Geek-dum.

Spelled that way on purpose so that the jocks could have a laugh whenever someone mentioned anything to do with 'Geek-dum.'

Gym, Danny realized, would not be a good place to let his mind wander. Dash and Kwan especially loved to go out of their way to pick on Danny, so he needed to focus.

Focus on...what again?

After bumping into another person in the hall, Danny realized that he was going to hurt quite a bit tonight.

* * *

Oh how Danny hated being right.

Truly, after his eighth collision with Dash, Danny was ready to quit.

Maybe he could fake being sick, like Tucker loved to do, or maybe he could use the girl's excuse of 'its that time of the month again'...

...he was sure he could fake cramps.

BAM!

Danny looked up into the grinning face of Kwan, who prodded Danny with the toe of his shoe before taking off again.

Danny growled at Kwan's retreating form, rubbing his backside as he stood up shakily.  
He looked around and saw Sam smirking, to which he replied by sticking out his tongue, grinning as she mouthed the word 'immature' at him.

BAM!

_Again_ Danny fell to the ground.

Danny's knees stung, his hands stung, and truthfully, he was ready to cry no matter what the social attitude was towards teen males showing their feelings in such a feminine manner in front of their peers was.

"Hit the showers Brats!!!"

The yell from the teacher was the most welcome one Danny had heard all day. He slowly tried to get up, his body aching with the effort.

Sam walked over and kneeled next to Danny, Tucker trailing not far behind her.  
"I want you to know that I have in no way forgiven you, but you look much to pathetic not to help."

Which in Sam-speak, ment that they were cool again.

Danny gave his friends a smile and accepted their hands carefully, wincing at the pressure to his raw palms.

After Sam and Tucker let go they all walked to the showers. Or rather, Danny and Tucker trudged, Sam bounced.

Telling Sam that she bounced, however, would get you a trip to the nurse's office. Goths do not bounce.

* * *

Danny waited until the shower stalls were empty. It took a while, and his sweat had dried, sticking his clothing uncomfortably to his skin, but it was better then having to deal with anyone.

Peeling off his clothes, Danny stepped under a showerhead, sighing as the hot water hit his sore muscles.

His thoughts kept drifting back to that kid...

Well, teen really... though Danny still had no clue whether it had been a girl or a boy.

Danny shook his head, sending water droplets flying from his hair. It really didn't matter if it had been a boy or a girl, it had been beautiful. Knowing what it was would be interesting, but it wouldn't change Danny's opinion.

After taking a short shower Danny quickly put his school clothes back on and started towards Lancer's classroom, where detention was held. His friends already knew he wouldn't be walking home with them, so after saying goodbye in Gym, they had just left after the last bell.

Danny sighed. He was NOT looking forward to detention. It wasn't that he didn't like Lancer, it was just that, like nearly everyone else in school, Lancer seemed to pick on him.

He always asked Danny the question that hadn't been on the homework assignment, or went out of his way to comment on a piece of Danny's writing. Embarrassing the hell out of Danny and giving his oh-so-wonderful peers more ammo fodder.

Danny sat down in the back of the classroom after signing in with Lancer. At least in here all he had to do was keep quiet and Lancer would leave him alone.

So Danny got out his notebook and started on his homework. Might as well be productive right?

* * *

It was _almost_ five thirty, almost time to go. Danny was the only one left today, and both he and Lancer were ready to get out of there. Lancer was a stickler for the rules though, so whether he was ready and willing to leave was irrelevant as long as there was a student still in detention.

Which Danny was.

So, it was five-twenty, and Danny could count on being here for exactly ten more minutes. Danny groaned softly as he hit his head against the desk.

Nine minutes.

Lancer glared at Danny, a silent threat to stop anything and everything that could be considered annoying.

Danny glared back, but settled down, crossing his arms on his chest.

Six minutes.

Danny was thinking about that white hair again. The way it had floated around the teen's body, how it had looked so fine and soft... Danny wanted a strand of that hair. Maybe his parents would let him keep a strand...

Three minutes.

What would he do with it though? Danny hadn't thought about that, he didn't even really know why he wanted a piece of a failed experiment anyway, he just kinda did.

Which, as Danny thought about it sounded creepy and stalker like.

"Alright Danny, I'll see you tomorrow."

Danny left out of his seat, flashing a smile at Lancer before running out of the room, ignoring the "DANIEL FENTON!!!! DO NOT RUN IN THE HALLS!!!"

* * *

Danny ran home, praying that his parents hadn't gotten rid of the teen yet. Weird and stalker-like as it was, Danny really wanted some of the kid's white hair.

Danny raced up his steps and burst through the door, blowing past a startled Jazz as he ran towards the lab.

"Mom! Dad!" Danny shouted as he burst through the door to the laboratory.

He looked around quickly, but didn't see his parents. Danny turned and ran back out of the lab smashing into Jazz and sending them both to the floor.

"Danny! What's wrong?"

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Danny sounded almost frantic.

"They're in the kitchen, what's wrong?"

Danny didn't answer her, just took off to the kitchen at full speed.

"Mom! Dad!"

Danny burst into the kitchen to find his parents sitting at the table, eating quietly. At Danny's outburst they looked up. "What is it Danny?" asked Maddie.

Danny looked at them both with scared eyes, "Did you guys get rid of your latest experiment yet?"

Jack looked at Danny sharply, but answered him, "Not that you need to know anything about them, but no, we have not gotten rid of anything. For some reason there wasn't anything to get rid of."

Maddie placed her hand on Jack's arm, a signal for him to stay calm. "Danny, when we went to the lab this morning, he was gone. We don't know what happened to him."

Danny gave a short sigh of relief before giving his parents a sheepish look. "I like to see what you guys are doing once in a while and last night I saw the kid you created... I just kinda wanted to ask for... for..." Danny's voice faltered as his embarassment at the request grew.

Maddie looked at him expectantly, "For what Danny?"

Danny looked at the floor, "A couple strands of hair..."

His mother looked at him strangely. "Why would you want a strand of his hair Danny?"

Danny shrugged, "I don't really know, I just kinda do... or did... I don't know..." Danny's face and ears were bright red, and he was really questioning his sanity. He didn't know why he wanted a strand of that white hair, he just did.

Maddie looked at Danny a bit sadly this time. "I'd like to help you out kiddo, but like we said, the experiment was gone when we got to the lab this morning."

Danny seemed to deflate a bit. "Can I go look around the lab? Please?"

Jack started to say something, but Maddie squeezed his arm to silence him. Danny hadn't really shown an interest in much of anything before this. His grades were adequate, he wasn't particularly athletic, and so far, he hadn't seemed to be artistically inclined, so Maddie figured that if Danny took an interest in something, whatever it was, that she needed to support him even though his request had seemed a tad on the weird(creepy)side.

"Sure Danny, go ahead."

Danny gave them a grin and dashed back down to the lab.

* * *

Iisha: As I was saying, I needed Danny to be sore, so I had Dash and Kwan push him around a bit.

Kyuugi: Don't worry, there will be a lot more bully-bashing in the future chapters.

Axel: I'm hungry!!!

Kyuugi: Sorry buddy, haven't gotten any flames yet, you'll just have to deal with the fact that I am a good writer.

Iisha: Or the fact that people feel sorry for you.

Kyuugi: I'll go with mine thanks.

Axel: REVIEW!!!


	3. Phantom238

Kyuugi: Hey everlybodies!!!

Iisha: This chapter is a bit not.

Kyuugi: Yeah, a bit not.

Iisha: Once you read it you might get what I mean.

Kyuugi: Hope that those of you that celebrate Turkey Day have a happy one!!!

DISCLAIMER!!!! I NO OWNIES!!!! Iffin' I did there would be a lot more smoochin' tween a couple 'o look-a-like teens!!!

WARNING!!! This story WILL be SLASH! Meaning that in later chapters there will be bois doing xxx to bois and bois getting xxx from bois and so on and so forth. No like? NO READ!!

* * *

PHANTOM238

Danny made his way quickly to the Lab, pushing the door open and stepping inside carefully. Danny looked around cautiously…

Nothing.

Danny sighed in disappointment, the soles of his sneakers scuffing the floor lightly as he walked up to the Stasis Chamber.

There was still nothing there. Danny ground his teeth together, silently cursing the deity that had invented consistency.

Nope, there was still, nothing there.

Frustrated that he couldn't make the teen appear with his thoughts, and frustrated at himself for thinking that he even could, Danny turned to walk out of the lab.

As soon as Danny got to the door, he heard glass cracking. Turning slowly, Danny saw the glass on the Stasis Chamber shatter, fluid rushing out to cover the floor. What Danny's eyes were on, however, was the white-haired teen that was now lying on the floor.

"MOM!!! DAD!!!"

That was all Danny could get out as he rushed over to the boy, turning him so his face pointed upwards instead of on the sticky, damp floor.

Jack and Maddie burst through the door, weapons raised, and looked about frantically for their son. Maddie saw them first and ran over to Danny, grabbing his arm, trying to pull him away from the boy on the floor.

Danny resisted, "Mom? Wha?"

Maddie didn't answer, just gave a yank that jerked Danny back from the boy on the floor, his head dropping to the floor with a soft 'thud'.

Jack ran over to the body, quickly checking for a pulse.

Maddie held Danny close, ignoring his struggling and focusing on Jack. "Is he dead Jack?"

Jack turned to her, "He has a pulse…"

Maddie let go of Danny suddenly and ran over to her husband, picking the boy up carefully as Jack went to pull out the medical bed they kept in the lab.

Maddie carefully laid the boy on the table, strapping him in and attaching an IV to his arm as Jack placed a blanket over him. Both adults worked silently and quietly, attaching the various wires to his forehead, arms, and chest that would be used to monitor his vital functions.

Danny watched from the other end of the room, where his mother had left him. The boy was alive, that made Danny happy.

'I wonder if they will let me have that hair now…'

Danny walked quietly over to his parents, his movements slow, and a bit unsure as he approached them.

"Mom? Dad? Is he alright?"

Jack didn't pause in his actions, but Maddie turned to Danny, "I don't know Danny, it'll take time to run tests and figure out if he is…" She had been about to say 'all there', but stopped. Danny didn't, or shouldn't, know about all the other experiments, where the subject came out brain damaged, or deformed in some way. Just because the boy looked fine on the outside didn't mean that there wasn't anything wrong with him, it just meant that they would need to run more tests to see if he was fully functional…

Danny stood in front of her, looking hopeful and scared. Maddie didn't want to scare him further, and Danny really seemed interested in this subject…

"I think he'll be fine Danny."

Danny's eyes lit up. Maddie smiled at him, ignoring the pointed look Jack shot at her, and gave him a hug.

The machines newly attached to the boy started to beep. The boy on the table gave a choking cough and gasped for air, his body straining at the straps keeping him on the table.

Maddie ran back to the table and grabbed a syringe from a nearby cabinet, filling it from a small jar of clear liquid before jabbing it none to gently into the boy's arm.

The choking stopped, and the body relaxed, proof the drug was taking effect. Danny's eyes stayed on the boy's face, studying it as well as trying not to look at the needle his mother still held. He was a bit queasy at the force she had used in dispensing the drugs; it couldn't have needed that much power to break the boy's skin. It looked thin to begin with, and Danny knew needles were sharp…

His parents waited a few more seconds, to be sure the drug kicked in, before leaving the boy and walking over to the Stasis Chamber. They weren't sure how it had broken, but they wanted to see the extent of the damage to the equipment surrounding the chamber.

Danny walked to the side of the table and looked down at the teen's face. He didn't seem dangerous…

As Danny watched the boy, he saw eyes begin to open very slowly… as if his eyelids were too heavy to lift. Danny was holding his breath as they fully opened, revealing beautiful, stunning green eyes.

The boy blinked slowly, and turned his gaze towards Danny, his foggy eyes questioning.

"Jack! He's awake!"

Danny felt himself pushed to the side as Maddie took his place at the side of the bed, excitedly running hands over the head and face of the teen.

Jack wasn't far behind his wife, clipboard in hand as he wrote down observations on the first behavior of the subject.

Danny was a bit hurt when his mother pushed him aside, her attention fully fixed on the green-eyed teen, but even more then he was hurt, Danny was angry. Couldn't his parents see that they were scaring the boy? Those green eyes were so full of fear Danny wanted to hit his parents for not recognizing it.

The boy gave a small, fearful sound that tore Danny's heart… "Mom…"

"Hmmm? I'm busy right now Danny, why don't you go ahead and go order pizza for you and your sister."

"But Mom…"

This time it was Jack who answered. "You heard your mother Danny, go on and get some pizza or something, this isn't where you need to be at the moment."

Danny's hurt overrode his anger for the moment and he quickly left the lab, turning his eyes from the hurt, green pleading ones belonging to the boy on the table.

Danny passed Jazz as he fled up to his room, slamming his door with as much force as he could muster. He hadn't known that his parents were working on something like that before… he knew that they'd been trying to create a being out of pure ectoplasm, but this creature had something else in him. Something more then just ectoplasm, he'd seen the elements combined; there had been three things… Ectoplasm was a given, he knew that. The second substance he wasn't sure about. It had been yellow, and just as gelatinous as the ectoplasm, and he was pretty sure that it had to have some kind of organic property in it. The last had been electricity. No mistaking that one either, it had kind of fused the other two substances together, been the binding agent, or the glue, that held the two together long enough for the ectoplasm to absorb the yellow stuff.

Or something like that.

Danny slammed his fist against the wall. Regardless of the fact that it was an experiment, it looked like a human, and Danny was upset that his parents showed none of the respect towards the boy that they showed towards anyone else.

It was like… the kid didn't really matter, that he was just a tool, or a machine to be torn apart to see what was inside…

It hurt…

Danny didn't know why he felt so adamantly towards this kid… but the pull was too hard to ignore, and too interesting to resist, and truth be told...

Danny didn't want to.

He had never really found anything that interested him. Sports were obviously out; the jocks had made sure of that. He wasn't a math whiz, and he didn't really do that well in science other then the specific region of ghostly substances and their uses. He wasn't a writer, other then the occasional entry in his journal or mandatory essay for school, and while he wasn't tone deaf, nor did he have a bad voice, music wasn't a passion either.

Art? No, no art. The best Danny could do there was a couple of stick figures killing each other with stick knives. Even if that HAD gotten him first place in an anonymous art contest, he didn't think that there was anything after that for him in the art world.

This kid though… he pulled at Danny's curiosity like nothing ever had before. Danny wanted to learn about this boy, and the process that made him.

What had been an interesting, if stalker like, yearning for a couple strands of the kid's hair, had become a burning desire to know him. To teach him how to be human, to show his parents that everyone mattered. Even if that someone was an experiment…

Danny's thoughts kept him up late into the night. He had ignored his parent's voices outside his door, and after a bit they had given up and gone to bed, leaving Danny with his thoughts.

Danny spent most of the time curled up on his bed. Not thinking, or moving, or anything, just staring at a spot on his wall, time ticking by as his body grew stiff from lack of movement. It was later in the night when Danny pushed his stiff body into a standing position, wincing at the pain that shot through his legs as the blood was allowed to rush into them.

After a minute to steady his legs, Danny quietly opened his door and crept down the hallway, carefully avoiding the squeaky spots on the floor as he stepped down the stairs, pausing on each one to listen for his family.

Once Danny made it to the bottom of the stairs, his steps became a bit less cautious, and a bit more hurried. He reached the door to the lab and quietly opened it, slipping inside and closing it quickly. Giving his eyes a second to adjust to the lack of lights, Danny listened for the sound of breathing. He heard it; it was soft, but it was there.

His eyes were able to see the outline of the medical table the boy had been laid on, and he carefully made his way there, stepping softly so he wouldn't startle the teen.

Danny reached the side of the bed and peered as best he could at the teen on the bed. Because there wasn't much light, there wasn't much to see, but Danny could make out the outline of the kid's face. His hand went to the white hair and stroked it softly, running from the forehead down to where it pooled on the bed beside the boy's head. With a swift twist of his wrist, Danny plucked a few of the white hairs and wrapped them around his fingers. He wasn't prepared for the whimper that followed.

Danny's eyes snapped up to see green ones blinking at him. Danny held his breath, he didn't think the boy was dangerous, but his mother had pulled him away with such force earlier that he couldn't be sure the kid wasn't.

Danny heard the whimper again, this time a bit louder and more plaintive, as if the boy were asking for something. Danny raised his hand to the boy's face and lightly rested fingertips against a pale cheek. The boy seemed to relax under his touch, leaning into it and closing his eyes, slipping back into sleep with the comfort of touch.

Danny waited a bit before removing his hand; this boy was like a little kid! He didn't seem to know how to talk, or what was happening to him or around him, how could his parents not see that? This boy was like a baby! His only language that of small sounds and his only comfort that of touch…

Danny's fist clenched at his side, he would get his parents to let him be around this boy, and maybe they would even let him teach the kid how to talk. No-one deserved to be treated like they didn't matter…

No-one.

Danny knew from experience with bullies what it felt like to not matter. No-one would come to your rescue; the adults looked away, your peers gazes slid over you… because you didn't matter.

Danny wouldn't let ANYONE else feel that way if he could help it. It wasn't right, and he knew how much it hurt.

Danny walked back up to his room with a plan in mind, the white hair still wrapped firmly around his fingers.

* * *

Kyuugi: Not the best chapter, but I can't find my notebook with all my chapter summaries in it... I swear I've looked EVERYWHERE for that frickin' thing...

Iisha: So really we took what we thought we remembered and BS'd our way through this one. Sorry 'bout that.

Kyuugi: I understand the need to flame on this one, so don't hold back your comments.

Iisha: Hope to see you all soon!!!

Axel: Axel says REVIEW!!!!


	4. An Interest in Science

Kyuugi: Back! Sorry its at the end of the 10 days, I have a final research paper due tomorrow that is nowhere near done... panic

Iisha: I think we said this a few chapters ago, but don't do things in college like us. Really. Start good work habits as soon as you can!

Kyuugi: Right! Finally moving along! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER!! I DO NOT OWN!! Iffin' I did there would be a lot more smoochin 'tween a couple 'o look-a-like teens!!

Warning: This is slash, this is NOT for yo' momma. Unless yo' momma likes SLASH!! In which case I would be delighted to have her read it. Again... SLASH!!

* * *

An Interest in Science

It was early in the morning when Danny once again made his way down to the lab. He had wrapped the white hair into a small coil and hidden it in a small box inside his dresser, away, he hoped, from prying eyes and nosy parents.

Danny made his way to the side of the medical bed. The boy was still strapped down, and the wires still attached, but Danny was relieved to see that it didn't look like he was hurt or scared. That might have been because the boy was asleep, but Danny was fine with that, just as long as the boy wasn't scared.

Danny didn't touch the boy, just stood by the bed and watched him sleep. There was just something about this teen that made him irresistible to Danny, and though he couldn't pinpoint it yet, Danny was determined to find out the reason.

Danny's hand drifted to the soft white hair and gently slid over it. A slight touch, meant to comfort Danny more then anything. This boy was real. Danny knew he was, he had seen the boy being made, he had been in the lab the first time the boy woke up.

Danny's hand was slowly stroking the white hair. He could feel his eyes closing as his own lack of sleep and emotional battles caught up with him in a flash, leaving him nearly asleep on his feet.

Danny opened his eyes.

He was in the lab, his hand still tangled in the boy's long white hair. At some point he must have been too tired to stand, for he found himself on his knees, torso resting against the cool side of the metal table. Danny stood up slowly, wincing as his legs were again flooded with blood, and carefully removed his hand from the soft white hair.

Still on unsteady legs Danny walked back to his room, crashing onto his bed and falling asleep within seconds of hitting the blanket. Just a little more sleep was all he needed…

"DANNY! GET UP!"

Danny groaned and pulled his pillow over his head, trying to drown out his mother's voice.

A knock came from his door.

"Danny! Time to get up honey!"

The door opened and Maddie walked in, wrinkling her nose at Danny's room before stepping over to the side of the bed. "Come on sweetie, it's time to get up."

She shook Danny's shoulder.

Danny rolled over and swatted the air in the direction of his mother's voice, hoping she'd leave him alone this once.

Maddie laughed as she shook his shoulder again, easily avoiding the waving hand as she snatched the pillow from Danny's face. "Up Danny."

Danny cracked open an eye and scrunched his nose at his mother. "Five more minutes _please_?"

Maddie whapped him with the stolen pillow, "Nope. Your friends will be here any minute and you are still in pajamas. Up. Now."

Danny made a face at her, but swung his legs to the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching and yawning as he did so. He was still tired, but at least he'd gotten a bit more sleep. Enough he hoped to keep him awake in Lancer's class…

Maddie, satisfied that Danny was getting ready, left the room and shut the door behind her. Danny stuck out his tongue at the door and picked up a pair of jean and a shirt from the floor. He gave them both a sniff, decided that they were clean(enough), and put them on. Picking up his backpack and realizing again that he had 'forgotten' to do his homework Danny gave a grimace. This didn't seem like it was starting out to be a good day.

Danny pulled on socks and his white sneakers, ran a comb through his hair once before realizing that it probably wouldn't make a difference, and walked out of his room.

He reached the kitchen to see Tucker and Sam talking with Jazz at their table.

"Hey guys. Have you been here long?"

Sam shook her head as she gave him a half smile. "Just got here. Jazz says she'll give us a ride if we leave in the next ten minutes."

Tucker, who was facedown on the table, raised his hand to Danny in a lazy attempt at a wave. "'Sup man."

Danny laughed at Tucker and popped a piece of bread into the toaster, pulling bologna and mustard out of the fridge as he waited. When the toast popped up and Danny began to make his breakfast, Sam pointedly turned her head and ignored him.

Danny gave her a mustard yellow grin. "Aw come on Sam. Just because you don't eat meat doesn't mean I can't."

At this Tucker raised his arm and pointed straight up, his face still flat on the table. "That's right Sam. Men need meat. We can't live without it. Its like women and shopping, the two are inseparable."

Sam knocked Tucker in the back of the head as Danny laughed, his breakfast finished.

Jazz stood up, "Alright boys and girl, time to get out the door."

Sam pulled Tucker up from the table and they all walked out after Jazz.

* * *

Danny was exhausted. Because he had forgotten to do his homework, the teachers had made it a point to call on him for EVERYTHING. Well, that might have been an exaggeration, but it hadn't felt like it at the time.

He tossed his backpack on his bed and gave a yawn. He still wanted to talk to his parents about teaching the teen to talk. It was Friday, so he had some time over the weekend to try to convince them if he needed too.

Danny walked into the kitchen, fully intent on procuring a snack before talking to his parents, couldn't negotiate on an empty stomach after all.

Halfway across the room Danny heard a shrill keening from the lab. He whipped around and ran to the lab, throwing open the door and skidding inside, looking immediately towards the boy on the table. Danny's mother was beside the boy, a stethoscope pressed to his chest while the boy keened and shrilled, struggling against the straps holding him down.

Danny was upset, but made no move toward either of them. His mother wasn't hurting the boy that Danny could see. It just looked like he was scared.

After his mother had put away the stethoscope and clipboard, she turned to see Danny standing in the doorway.

"Danny? Are you alright?"

Danny nodded. "I just wanted to talk to you and Dad about something."

Maddie nodded back, "Sure Danny. Let me get your father. Meet you in the kitchen?"

Again Danny nodded. "That's fine. Be there in a sec."

Maddie gave him a smile and pulled off her gloves, tossing them onto a metal tray near the door before leaving the lab.

Danny's attention turned back to the still struggling boy on the table and walked over to him. The boy's movement lessoned and he keened softly at Danny. Though his awareness and knowledge was limited, and the boy didn't really know why, he knew that Danny made him feel safe. Like newborn kittens curling up to their mother because even though they couldn't see, they knew that that body made them sleepy and warm. Safe.

He pushed at the straps again, trying to touch Danny with his head, tears leaking from his eyes. He didn't like the man and woman that were in here most of the time. Everything they did was scary and new, and the thing that the woman pressed to his chest was cold and uncomfortable, it was too much too soon.

Danny reached out and rested his palm against the boy's cheek, the other hand wiping the tears away gently, soothing noises coming from his mouth.

The boy leaned into Danny's palm, nuzzling and cooing at him, trying to convey in the only way he had that he liked Danny. That he needed Danny.

After a minute Danny heard his mother calling him. He pulled back slowly, but didn't break eye contact with the boy.

"I'll only be gone for a bit, ok?"

Danny knew that the boy couldn't understand him, but he hoped that the other was settled down enough so that when he left the boy wouldn't start keening again.

The boy looked at him with sad eyes, but did nothing as Danny walked to the door of the lab, head craned so that he could see Danny until the last second. Danny slipped out the door and walked quickly up the stairs to see his parents in the kitchen waiting for him.

Danny sat down across from his parents and looked at his hands for a second, gathering his courage, before speaking.

"Mom," his first statement was directed at Maddie. "You know that I haven't really been interested in much of anything so far. Not academically or in anything fine arts wise. I just, you know, didn't really want to do get into something I didn't enjoy."

At this both Jack and Maddie nodded, this wasn't new information, but kept quiet and let Danny speak.

Danny took a deep breath. "Well I've decided that I want to learn more about your guys' experiments. You know, what process you went through to find a working formula, what substances you tested, calculations, stuff like that. I want to do what you guys do, be a ghost scientist."

Jack was the first to speak. "Danny that's wonderful! We can have real man-to-man talks about ghosts!"

Maddie tapped her husband to settle him down. "What made you want to become a scientist Danny. " She was fairly sure she knew what it was, but it never hurt to ask.

Danny twisted his hands together. "I saw you create that boy and… and I though it would be awesome to see how far he can progress as compared to a human. You know, his learning capabilities, the things he has problems with compared to the things that he excels at. I want to study HIM."

Maddie understood. "So what you want isn't really to create and experiment, you want to study the psychological aspects of the subject, see how he matures given less time and instruction then a human of his age?" She realized that Danny was interested in the boy, not the process, and though she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing at this point she was willing to let Danny become a part of the experiment. Maybe he would find that he was truly interested in a certain part of it. If not, well… she could cross that bridge when she came to it.

Jack, however, was not as happy with Danny as his wife was. "I though you wanted to help me test out all our ghost hunting equipment and stuff? Not mess around with the screwed up mind of a test tube baby." He was unhappy and feeling slighted, his son would rather mess around with an experiment then his own father.

Danny's eyes hardened at his father's words, but Maddie jumped in before either of them could speak again. "I think that would be alright Danny, what did you have in mind?" She ignored Jack, who had started sulking and poking the sandwich he'd made, and focused on Danny.

Danny pointedly turned away from his father and began to tell Maddie what he wanted to do. He wanted to teach the boy to communicate first of all, and also all the necessary things that humans did each day. Eating, drinking, and using the restroom. Danny wanted to start from the beginning and work his way from there, seeing how far they could.

"I'll record all his progress, like how long it takes him to understand a certain concept, and things that he picks up be watching others. Stuff like that."

Maddie furrowed her eyebrows, thinking. Danny seemed to have everything planned out, and his enthusiasm had grown as he'd talked about it but, she wasn't sure she wanted the experiment to learn everything Danny was proposing. She still needed to test out the powers that the boy had, what was still dormant and what was active, and she needed to be able to monitor the use of them at all times. Still… Danny had obviously put more thought into this then he did into anything so far…

Jack started talking again. "No way Maddie. We don't know what kind of powers this one has and I don't want him near Danny. No good can come out of teaching a mutant test tube baby the anything that he doesn't need to know to not kill anyone."

Maddie made to talk, but Jack wasn't finished yet. "And what happens if you let Danny teach him anything and he freaks out and kills? No good can come out of it, none."

Danny was clutching the edges of his chair, his knuckles white with exertion. Tears threatening to fall from his eyes, his face down turned to avoid looking at his parents.

Maddie looked at her husband, then back at Danny. She knew that there were risks involved with teaching the boy, but simple things like talking and eating? She didn't think that those would be a problem, and she didn't want to push Danny away, so she looked at her husband and made a motion for him to keep his mouth shut.

Jack glared at her, but obeyed, she could be scary when mad, and he didn't want to sleep on the couch for a week either.

"Danny, how about this." Maddie touched his shoulder. "I let you teach him to talk as long as you keep everything simple. Teach him how to eat, go to the bathroom, clean himself, stuff like that."

Danny looked up grinning.

"But!" Danny's grin fell a bit. "When I tell you its enough, you stop. When I tell you to avoid a subject, you avoid the subject. If I tell you I need him back in the lab you stop what you are doing and bring him back to the lab right away. No questions. If you break any of these rules I revoke your privileges and you will be banned from talking to him, or even seeing him. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack looked a bit happier after hearing the rules, but it was clear that he did not approve of this in the least.

Danny's grin was back full force. "I promise to follow the rules. I promise!"

Maddie grinned back at Danny, "Well then, you have yourself a research subject. I hope you are prepared to spend long hours with no pay and horrible working conditions on your report."

Danny stood up laughing, and saluted his mother, "Yes m'am! You can count on me!"

"Alright then, I expect a full summary at the beginning of each week on what you plan on teaching, Sunday mornings at eight am sharp. Got it?"

"Got it!" Danny said as he ran out of the room.

Jack turned to his wife. "You know no good can come out of this. Why did you let him do it?"

Maddie sighed. "Because he is finally interested in something. He might find that after a while he gets bored of this, or he might find that another part of the process that interests him. I don't want him to be apathetic for the rest of his life Jack."

Jack snorted. "Well then, when we all die because you didn't want Danny to be stuck in a desk job I hope you'll be happy."

Maddie got up and walked out of the kitchen.

"Have fun sleeping on the couch tonight Jack."

Jack groaned.

* * *

Kyuugi: I feel the need to tell everyone that this will not end up being an 'everything is perfect for everyone' fic. It gets dark and dirty and nasty towards the end. So if you don't like that, you might not want to read to the end.

Iisha: But hey, if you want to see where it goes stick around. We promise the next chapter will be out be Friday, Dec 15. Hope to see you then!

Axel: Axel says REVIEW!!


	5. Life is Hard to Master

Kyuugi: Yay for backness!!

Iisha: You are a day late.

Kyuugi: I have an explanation!!! My mom's compy crashed so she had to work on mine alllllll day. SORRY!!! is hiding

Iisha: This chapter is a bunch of time jumps, not just one day. I'd tell you that each bar represents a time jump, but really, some of the jumps are hours while others are days. You'll just have to figure that one out on your own. Just know that the last one is the end of week 3.

Kyuugi: Thank you to my groupie!!

DISCLAIMER!!! I DO NOT OWN!!! Iffin' I did there would be a lot more smoochin' 'tween a couple 'o look-a-like teens.

Warning: Slash. Isn't yet, will be soon. So for all you people who don't like slash, why the hell are you even here. Get out. Now.

* * *

Life is Hard to Master-

Danny was up early the next morning, his excitement had made it hard to sleep, and was eagerly surfing the web to find tips on teaching.

So far, however, all he'd found was a bunch of porn, a few websites extolling the wonders of a certain teacher, and an interesting website on the use (or misuse) of Engrish.

Nothing remotely helpful on teaching English other then the obligatory 'start young for best results.' Bleah.

Danny was not feeling very happy. He'd spent 4 hours on the computer and hadn't found anything that he really could use, and NOW he was tired. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and cursed softly. This was not working out the way he had hoped.

Jazz was always an option. She knew a lot about tutoring, she was the best one at Casper High, and she knew the rules of the language inside and out. Danny just hadn't wanted to depend on her so early. Hell, before he'd even really gotten started.

But… Danny didn't really know his way around the Library, and Jazz wouldn't turn him down if he asked nicely.

'Jazz it is.'

Danny hopped out of the chair he'd been sitting in and went to find Jazz. It was still early enough in the morning that she probably wasn't gone yet, so Danny headed to the kitchen first. He hadn't eaten anything, his excitement overpowering his need to eat.

Eat. Wait, eat! This would be the perfect time to start teaching the Phantom to eat!

Danny eagerly scrounged around the kitchen for different kinds of food. Cereal might be fine, without the milk. Danny wasn't sure that he could eat cereal lying down, so he was sure the boy couldn't. Fruit, everyone loved fruit right? Danny carefully cut up an apple and a banana and peeled an orange, setting a few slices of each on a small plate, and then poured a tiny amount of the Frosted Flakes onto the plate. He grabbed a cup and filled it with apple juice, slopping some over the side in his haste.

Food and drink in hand Danny made his way down to the lab, carefully swinging the door open and stepping inside the dark room. He set the plate on the floor and fumbled for the light switch, lights flooding the room a few seconds later. Danny picked up the plate and walked slowly over to the metal bed.

He set the food on the tray next to the head of the table, then pulled a chair over and sat down, bumping the bed by accident.

Green eyes snapped open and his mouth opened to scream. Danny quickly put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"It's alright! It's just me, you're fine."

Danny's voice was low and soothing, his grip warm and firm, and the boy visibly relaxed.

Danny gave him a grin and pulled back his hand. "You get to eat today!"

The boy cocked his head, obviously not understanding, but recognizing that Danny was excited about something. He wanted to know what those noises were that everyone around him was able to make. It was clear to him that they were communicating; he was just unable to connect the words with the action. It frustrated him. He _wanted_ to know what they were saying, and he _wanted_ to communicate with them too.

Danny saw a flash of frustration in the boy's eyes and realized that it bothered him that he couldn't understand Danny.

Well, soon enough, right? Danny picked up an apple slice.

"Apple."

He held the slice out for the boy to look at and repeated himself.

"Apple."

Danny saw an understanding in the green eyes.

"Aaaallleee."

The word was drawn out and slurred horribly, Danny nearly jumped up and danced, but it was a start. He nodded his head enthusiastically and tried again.

"Apple."

"Aaapllleee."

"Apple."

"Aappllee."

Danny's grin was ear to ear.

"Apple."

"Apple."

"YES! Good job!"

The boy looked uncertain, but Danny was happy, so that must have meant that he'd done something right. He looked again at the small white looking thing Danny held.

"Apple." He said it again. "Apple."

Danny was close to exploding with joy. He carefully pressed the slice to the boy's mouth.

The boy recoiled, so Danny pulled back and put it to his own mouth, closing his teeth over it with exaggeration, chewing slowly and deliberately. He offered it to the boy again and this time, the boy opened his mouth and allowed Danny to place the 'apple' inside.

Danny nearly laughed as the boy mimicked his exaggerated movements, but instead just nodded and smiled.

The boy was shocked. This 'apple' was good! He didn't yet know what 'sweet' and tangy' were, all he knew was that he wanted more. He chewed until the slice was mush in his mouth, unsure of what to do next, but the mush in the back of his throat made him swallow involuntarily and the taste became dimmed. He was not happy about that.

Danny looked at the furrowed eyebrows and was unable to hold in a giggle. The boy looked funny!

The boy opened his mouth and made a demanding noise. He wanted more!

Danny laughed again and pushed another small slice into the boy's waiting mouth. This was way more fun then he'd though it would be.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

Danny was back in his room, sitting on his bed, and glowering at the wall. He had been doing great with the boy, who now could say the names of each item that Danny had fed him, until his father had come into the lab.

The boy had clammed up as soon as the door had started opening, and no amount of food bribery had been able to make him open his mouth again. His father had finally kicked him out, saying that he had important tests to run and the boy was obviously not going to cooperate.

Danny hadn't said anything to this, instead giving his father a somewhat snooty look before gathering his trash and leaving the lab. The plaintive whine behind him pinching his nerves even more as he dumped the plate and cup into the sink and fleeing to his bedroom.

Danny knew he was being a brat. He had agreed to the terms his mother had set out, and angering his father was not the best way to keep his agreement. Though his mom was most assuredly in charge, his dad did have sway in her decisions.

So, mental note number one, be courteous to dad. Don't piss him off, do something nice for him, talk to him about ghosts, try not to get on his bad side even more then Danny already had. He had passed his father on the couch this morning, so Danny knew that already this was a bad argument between his parents. Best to try to sugar coat it a little bit.

So Danny got up and promptly smacked himself. Hard. Every time he did something that jeopardized his chances to be allowed to keep the agreement he'd made, he was going to hit himself.

Danny didn't allow himself to rub the sting on his cheek, just went out in search of Jazz, he needed to talk to her about the tutoring thing.

Sunday morning Danny was in a slightly better mood. His parents had been in the lab all day yesterday, but he was hoping to set up a time when he could have the boy all to himself. He'd worked for hours with Jazz's help, putting together reports for the next month. Each one outlined the words he hoped to teach, and the concepts he hoped the boy would pick up. Everything outlined and planned out to perfection, as Jazz did well, and at the end was a sheet that Danny would fill each Saturday night. It filled in what had been learned, what hadn't, what was difficult, and what was easy, making it easy to tell the progress made.

Jazz had also suggested a chart that Danny could use for quick reference, so he'd added that too, along with a note that stated that this was unfinished. Each week he would draw in the lines that showed an increase, or decrease in progress, and would make it easy to see what the boy was good at, and what he struggled with.

All in all, Danny was proud of his reports. Jazz had been amazed at the ferocity with which Danny had attacked the project, injecting jibes every now and then about the state of his GPA, and if he worked as hard at school as he was on this…

Danny had merely smiled and stuck his tongue out at her, making her sigh and roll her eyes.

So he was sitting at the table, explaining his plans to his parents. Jack looked like he really didn't want to be there, but with Maddie's hand digging into his thigh there wasn't much he could do except look disinterested. Even though he thought that Danny had done a great job on the reports, and was impressed that so much work had clearly been put into them.

When Danny was finished with the summary Maddie had released her hold on Jack's thigh to clap, much to his relief, and had started asking Danny questions.

Jack noted that even though Danny looked fairly nervous, like if he answered wrong he would be unable to keep going with this, he still kept his voice steady and his answers sure. 'He really wants this project.' Jack thought. His reserves were still there but he found himself, if just a tiny bit, relenting. Danny wanted this enough to push for it.

Jack was startled out of his thoughts to see his wife and son looking at him expectantly.

"Uhhh…"

Maddie gave an exasperated sigh. "He asked if he could have a set time to be alone with the boy every day."

Jack felt himself tighten up again, he had been furious when he'd found Danny alone with the boy this morning, Danny didn't know what the kid was capable of. He and Maddie barely knew. He did not want Danny alone with that boy. Not at all.

Maddie's expression grew tight and he knew that even if he voiced his concerns, she would override him. So Jack just nodded his head, not trusting himself to be calm or even within the broad range of his 'inside' voice.

Danny grinned widely at his father, gratitude in his gaze, and turned back to Maddie.

"Because you have school during the weekdays, I can give you a choice. You can get up early each morning, or you can have the time after dinner."

Danny thought for a minute. He was willing to get up early. The boy would probably be easier to teach when Danny was the first person he would see, but then again, after his parents had been in the lab with him all day. The boy might need him more then, and might be more receptive to what Danny said. Or it might be the other way around.

He furrowed his eyebrows.

"How about," he started slowly, "weekdays I get the mornings, and then nights on the weekends. I want to find out when he is most receptive, so can we try this for a month and then renegotiate?"

Maddie looked at Danny with shock before pride took over. He really had thought everything through. He was testing his waters to get a bearing and wasn't excluding the possibility of emotions interfering with his lessons. She had been sure that this was a temporary excitement, but Danny had shown more determination and drive in the past few days then he'd ever shown in his life. Maybe she had underestimated her son.

She gave him a nod and picked up the report he'd given her. "You got it kiddo."

Danny grinned and gave his mother a hug.

* * *

Danny was sure that school would never end. His father had added a few extra rules to the agreement; one being that Danny would not on any occasion miss school unless he or Maddie gave him permission, two being that Danny would not neglect his schoolwork to focus on his project, and three that Danny was to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA.

Danny had not been especially happy with the added rules but hadn't argued them, reminding himself of his own personal deal.

So Danny was trying to pay attention. His GPA was close to being unacceptable at the moment and he needed to do well for a while to bring it up. Meaning no daydreaming or pretending to work while he passed notes with Sam or Tucker.

Because of that Danny was at the moment actually taking notes from the lecture Lancer was giving, as he had been for the past week. It was boring as hell, but Danny was NOT about to let Lancer ruin anything more in his life then he already had.

That being said, even Danny was surprised when he'd answered Lancer's question of, "Mr. Fenton. Can you tell us why _Romeo and Juliet_ is considered an immature play?

Danny had frozen for a second, his classmates waiting for one of his wonderfully BS'd answers, then had looked at his notes.

"Be-because," Danny was stuttering from nervousness. At what? Giving the right answer?

He cleared his throat and tried again. "Because it was Shakespeare's first attempt to mix comedy with tragedy."

Short, not really an entire answer, but enough to keep Lancer off his back and off his grade he hoped.

Tucker was looking at Danny with an open mouth and Sam was eyeing him warily. The rest of the class seemed disappointed that Danny wouldn't be getting into trouble and Lancer had stopped talking. He looked at Danny with narrowed eyes before going back to his lecture.

Danny let out a soft sigh. Good enough.

* * *

Danny carefully stepped into the shower at home. The boys in Gym had been particularly nasty today, and had stood around to guard the locker room so that Danny had been unable to get in. So he had walked home in his gym outfit, embarrassed and aggravated and ready to snap at the first person who talked to him.

Except it had been his father who had met him at the door, so Danny had sucked up his anger and had a somewhat congenial conversation with his father before excusing himself to take a long shower.

He'd whipped his clothes against the door after stripping. His anger nearly causing him to rip his shirt as he'd pulled it off.

The only thing that was going right was his lessons with the boy, and even those were becoming stressful. It had only been 2 weeks…

He'd asked his mother if the kid had a name and she'd told him that she tried to make it a point not to name the experiments. They just used the experiment number for identification.

Danny had been a bit shocked at first, but he'd seen tears in his mother's eyes and had kept his mouth shut.

So he called the teen Phantom. It sounded cool, the kid **had** been created with ectoplasm, and it was like a code name for when he talked about him with Sam and Tucker.

At first, Phantom had been open to anything Danny wanted to show him. He absorbed everything he was taught quickly and was eager to learn about what this was, what that was, what-what-what-what.

Danny had answered the questions as best he could, and was happy that Phantom seemed so enthusiastic about learning.

Except for the last few days, Phantom had been moody and unresponsive, glaring at Danny and pointedly turning away from him during their lessons. Not eating, or getting up to use the restroom anymore, though he'd mastered that within the first week.

He was sullen and moody.

Danny had been as patient as he could; offering to play a few games of go-fish to loosen Phantom up, but the only response he'd received had been a sour look.

So as thankful as he was that this was Friday, it also meant that he had a lesson with Phantom tonight; Danny really just wanted to curl up with a decent comic book and can of Coke and forget that the world seemed to hate him.

Except, that really, he couldn't.

So he stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, pleased that at the very least, being more involved in school meant that he had to be more involved in gym. Which for him meant that he was sporting the start of a six pack.

Looking at himself in the mirror Danny flexed, and started to laugh. Alright, he'd proven to himself, through the minor flexing of his belly muscles, that not everything was bad. Maybe he just needed to ask Phantom what was wrong.

Satisfied that he'd avoided temper overload for now, Danny gathered his dirty clothes and went to go over his homework before heading down to the lab.

Phantom was not cooperating tonight.

Despite Danny's 'calm down' shower, Phantom was pushing his patience to the limit. So Danny took his own advice.

"Phantom, what is wrong. You have been fighting with me for days now. What do you want?"

Phantom's head whipped around.

"I want! I want go OUT! No fun in here! All times other people come in and touch! You said not touch except for asking!"

Phantom had learned quite a bit, but an entire language in less then three weeks was hard.

Danny's eyes softened. "You know I can't take you out. The other people would get mad at me. You remember what I told you about me coming here right?"

Phantom answered sullenly. "Other people not let you come back if I get out. I have stay here all times."

"I know it's hard, but if I want to see you I have to make sure that you stay here."

Danny was silent for a second.

"I can bring you pictures though."

Phantom perked up. "What is?"

"I'll be able to show you the outside, would that make you happy?"

Phantom nodded. "I see what you see?"

Danny grinned. "Sure, I'll take pictures of my house and school and bring them for you to see. I can show you my friends and sister too."

Phantom wilted a bit. "I not friends?"

Danny's mouth dropped open. "Of course you are! I told you that you were my friend remember? Just because I have other friends doesn't mean that you aren't."

Phantom looked confused. "Okay have more one friends?"

Danny nodded back vigorously. "Yes. And no matter how many friends I have you will always be one of them. Okay?"

Phantom nodded, but his eyes were still wary. "Can hug?"

Danny reached over and hugged Phantom tightly. Because of Jack's reservations, Phantom was confined to the lab, but Maddie had allowed Danny to let him off the bed as long as he was strapped back in at the end of each lesson.

Because Phantom had been difficult to get back up on the bed yesterday however, Danny hadn't undone the straps to his legs today.

Danny could feel the metal edge of the table digging into his side, but above that he could feel Phantom shaking as though he was trying not to cry. Danny realized that really, he was the only good human contact that Phantom had. He didn't know that it was alright to be friends with more then one person because he didn't have more than one person to be friends with. Phantom didn't trust his parents and hadn't seen anyone else, so when Danny had mentioned other friends he had assumed that Danny wasn't _his_ friend anymore.

So Danny ignored the discomfort and held Phantom even tighter, letting the teen cry onto his shoulder.

* * *

"Who is that?"

"That is my sister."

"Sister is…" Phantom thought for a second. "Sister is girl born to same parents?"

Danny nodded. "Right. My mom says that she looked like Jazz when she was younger."

Phantom went to the next picture.

"Who is that?"

"That is Mr. Lancer. He teaches English at my school."

"Why he does not have hair?"

Danny grinned, his hand going to the thick white braid of Phantom's hair, "I dunno, when humans get old they lose their hair. Guess he is a bit on the early side."

When Phantom felt the hand on his hair, he immediately situated himself so that Danny could brush it out and re-braid it. Just like he always did at the end of each lesson. Phantom flicked to the next picture as Danny pulled the elastic out of the braid.

"Who are that?"

"Who are they?" Danny corrected as he undid the braid.

"Who are they?" Phantom obediently repeated.

"That is Sam and Tucker, the friends I told you about."

Phantom looked hard at the picture. Danny had reassured him constantly over the course of the past week that he and Phantom were, and would always be, friends. Phantom was still a bit unsure about it however, and it had become a bit of a fear that he would lose his Danny to these other friends.

Danny slid the brush through Phantom's silky hair. His parents had wanted to cut it short, but he had compromised with them. He would cut it up to Phantom's waist and keep it clean and pulled back. His parents had thought it to be because of some psychological reason, but really it had been for Danny. He loved the long white hair. He loved to brush it out and play with it, and pull it into all sorts of styles, joking with himself that he could always become a hairdresser if school didn't work out.

Phantom hadn't minded. He'd been glad for the attention and now would situate himself to be pampered, even though it meant the end of the lesson.

Danny noticed that Phantom had set the pictures down carefully and was leaning back into his touch. He smiled as he brushed, eventually putting the brush down and just running his fingers through the silky strands.

After a few minutes Danny ruefully began braiding. He wasn't great at it yet, in fact really, he still stunk at it, but he was getting better each night, and had even convinced Jazz to let him practice on her.

She'd agreed, but teased him each time he did it, making him blush as he struggled to keep the portions even and loose enough not to hurt her head.

After Danny put the elastic band back in he gently shook Phantom's shoulder.

"I have to go; we need to get you back onto the table. Do you need to go to the bathroom again?"

Phantom stood slowly, eyes halfway closed, and nodded. So Danny directed him in the direction of the bathroom and gave him a light push.

When Phantom returned, Danny vaguely realized that another bath was in order for tomorrow, and climbed into the table/bed, wrinkling his nose at the coolness of the metal through the thin sheet. Danny pulled the straps out and put them back on, sighing as he did so, and pulled the blanket up to Phantom's chin.

"Sleep tight." He said softly.

"Don't let bedbugs bite." Was Phantom's soft reply.

* * *

Kyuugi: Silly Phantom.

Iisha: I just think he would look gorgeous with long hair.

Kyuugi: Right! Well, this one kind of got off track and I went long. Like double what I normally write, but you guys don't mind that do you. :P

Iisha: Next chapter will be out on the 20th. along with a Christmas present fic called _In Bed With Vlad_.

Kyuugi: Meh. Hope to see you then!

Axel: Axel says REVIEW!!


	6. Why does it DO that

Kyuugi: Happy Holidays everyone.

Iisha: Merry Christmas! We like Christmas!

Kyuugi: Chapteh 6 of teh storeh is HERE!!!

Iisha: Took you long enough.

Kyuugi: I was busy playing Harvest Moon, so sue me!

Iisha: Don't give the lawers ideas idiot!

DISCLAIMER: I don't OWN IT!!! WAAAAAA!!!! Now Danny will never get his big make out scene with Phantom in the cartoon. sniff

* * *

Why Does it DO That?- 

It was the end of the third week and Danny was very pleased with Phantom's progress.

Not only had he managed to become fairly fluent in English, but he had also picked up many things with only one or two repetitions.

Eating, walking, things that were simple and learned early in life had caused him no problems. Motor skills were still a bit lacking, but really, it was only the end of the third week. Danny hardly expected him to be perfect from the start, that was why he'd proposed to teach the boy.

What Danny was now realizing, was that Phantom wasn't just smart, he was genius material. His parents were noticing the heavy incline of Phantom's progress as well, only they weren't as pleased with it as Danny was. Still, they had kept their end of the agreement and let Danny continue, making him happier then he'd ever thought he'd been in his life.

It hurt though too. He'd walked in on his parents last night. They had still been in the lab when he got there for Phantom's lesson. He only knew that when he'd walked in he'd seen Phantom arched up in pain on that table.

His father had been forcibly restraining the boy, the straps having snapped at some point, and he saw his mother with a small box connected with wires to Phantom's chest.

He had nearly stopped breathing when he realized it was a shock box. They were purposely sending bolts of electricity into the poor teen's body. His back arching so hard it was a wonder that it wasn't broken. Phantom's mouth open in a silent scream, tears streaming down his face as the bolt suddenly stopped, body falling back to the table with a thud.

Danny hadn't been able to move or breathe, he could only stare. Stare because it hurt. Oh God did it hurt. His chest felt like it was being torn in half and he vaguely felt the pain in his hands as his nails bit into his skin.

Phantom was sobbing. Short gasping breaths that shuddered with his jerking body; hands and feet still clenching and curling from the electricity, face red from exertion and pain

They had noticed him then, standing by the doorway with his backpack at his feet where it had fallen, hands clenched at his sides.

Jack had pointedly turned away and started removing the pads from Phantom's chest. Maddie had guiltily met her son's gaze before slipping off her gloves and pulling her husband from the room, leaving everything for clean up later.

Danny had run over to Phantom, pulling the boy to his chest as he felt tears drip down his own cheeks. He pulled the boy down until they both were on the floor, all the while cursing his parents and that horrible metal bed.

Phantom had clutched Danny fiercely, sobs muffled by the shirt the other wore, and curled up as much as his broken body would allow. The naked skin was no longer smooth and pale, but was now marred with barely healed scars and bruises. Naked and vulnerable as he pushed himself closer and closer to Danny, as if touching Danny made the hurt go away.

"You didn't tell me that they hurt you like this."

Danny was quiet as he said this, rubbing hands slowly over Phantom's shoulders.

"The big one told me not too. He said he would never let me see you again!"

Phantom's sobs grew in intensity as he pressed himself closer, and Danny tightened his hold on the other's shoulders in response, his anger threatening to overflow any minute.

"What else did they do?"

It was a question, but barely.

Phantom shook his head. "Don't know. Never know. They don't talk 'cept to yell…"

His sobs were residing, but his grip hadn't lessoned and his face was still pressed into Danny's chest, fingers curled tightly into the fabric there.

Danny had felt hopeless. There had been nothing he could do. Phantom didn't know what they were doing to him, only that it hurt. His parents had been avoiding him lately and even Jazz seemed a bit standoffish towards him.

He was losing his family as he gained a…a…

A what? A friend? No, that didn't seem right. Danny knew how he felt towards Phantom was more then just friendship.

A Brother? No… that wasn't it either. It was different, new, not like anything he'd ever felt before. Not with his family, not with his friends, not even with Paulina. It was something MORE then what he knew how to describe. He had no words simply because he could not explain it.

It was like when he had tried to describe colors to Phantom, only to realize that while everyone seemed to know everyone seemed to know what green or red was. There weren't exactly any words to describe colours, people just... knew it.

Danny had forgone any semblance of a lesson and had just held Phantom. As closely and as tightly as he could, because he wanted to bear some of the pain, to do something that could help even just a little.

He just held him as the clock ticked the minutes away, running fingers through the sweat matted hair and down the other's back, a silent reassurance to calm both of them down.

Near the end of Danny's time he'd lifted Phantom and taken him into the bathroom, running as hot a bath as he could stand before settling them both into it.

It was a bit uncomfortable with all his clothes on, but Danny ignored everything but the teen he held. Phantom had allowed himself to be turned for the sake of breathing, but had himself pressed as far back into Danny as he could. Needing that physical comfort, needing to be reassured that Danny wouldn't push him away, needing something MORE then what he knew of.

Phantom was scared. He learned for sake of survival, it was imperative that he be able to communicate with Danny, everything else was trivial to him, but he learned it to please Danny. He really didn't care about what the names of the objects in his prison were, he knew that they hurt him, and that was as far as he wanted to go with them.

But Danny wasn't able to help when he wasn't here. When only the others were here Phantom was scared. Scared because they weren't nice, scared because they only hurt.

Only hurt.

Phantom was angry. These people had a control over him that he did not like. They had a control over Danny that he did not like. Only he was allowed to touch Danny. Only he was allowed to command Danny's attention. Everyone else was insignificant. They did not, and would not ever matter to him.

Only Danny.

Danny had offered him his first comfort, but MORE than that, Danny had offered first affection. First freedom. First, first, first… Everything was a first with Danny, and Danny came first with Phantom.

When Danny had pulled them up out of the bath it was getting cool, and they were both shivering, so he toweled them off and wrapped Phantom in one of the spare emergency blankets he'd found. Then had gently brushed out Phantom's silky hair and pulled it back into a braid.

Phantom was already asleep by the time Danny finished, so Danny reluctantly placed him back on the table. The straps clicked into place with a shaking hands and a heavy heart.

Danny cursed against the shower wall, his memory of last night mercilessly repeating itself in his mind, and he couldn't stop the tears that flowed along with it.

* * *

It had been a week since Danny had walked in on his parents. They had made it a point to be out of the lab a half hour before his lessons this weekend, if only because Maddie was finding it increasingly hard to look at her son. 

She knew what she did wasn't exactly high on the moral code, but her mantra to herself had always been 'it's for science,' as if those words would make everything alright.

They didn't, but they had taken away some of the pain she felt in each experiment. Each time she crossed one of her blurred lines, the ones that seemed to separate moral and ethical from wrong and disturbed, she told herself that one day people would look back and regale her as a great scientist. One of the worlds best ghost researchers and hunters, she would also be legendary as a creator. She had created life! She had done the calculations for years to get it right, nothing would stand in her goal.

Nothing.

Not even hurting a child. Her child, even.

Not even when her maternal instincts told her to gather them into her arms and hold them until they were safe and fine and ready to face the world.

Not for anything.

Because in the world of science, Maddie knew, you had to be ninety-nine percent crazy to one percent genius. And while genius was important, you could do nothing without the crazy. It was what drove you to exhaustion when you'd failed yet again. It was what kept you working even though you knew long ago that it wasn't possible. The genius helped, the crazy made breakthroughs.

The crazy made it easier to ignore her feelings.

* * *

Danny was leaning against the headboard of his bed thinking at the moment. There was nothing particular catching his interest, only a mental run-through of his day and list of what he needed to do for the next. He had filled the 'lessons' for the past week merely with comfort and affection, trying with all his power to give Phantom something that he could hold on to when Danny couldn't be there physically. Trying to fill the emptiness that was starting to grow in his own heart whenever he saw his parents walk through the door to the lab, or pointedly ignore him again, the emptiness that only seemed to go away when he was with Phantom. 

A week of nightmares, a week since he'd walked in on that horrible sight.

Danny stood, mental lists forgotten as he strode purposefully to the lab, his heels thudding on the wooden floor.

It was earlier then he was normally allowed to go into the lab, but Danny wanted to watch. He wanted to know what they did to his Phantom, what 'tests' they ran, and how they went about it.

He'd thought that he knew his parents. He'd thought that at least his mother would stop the experiments when they grew above the notion of humane. Yet Phantom had told him that really she was the worse of the two, if only because in the moments of hesitation she would ignore everything around her and just let Phantom scream, caught in a conflict with herself that wracked the world around her.

He knew Phantom hated his parents, but it would have been near impossible for him not to. Phantom had an amazing healing rate. Danny knew because he'd gotten sliced on one of the metal trays in the lab, but by the end of the lesson it was healed nearly completely. This presented an opportunity for his parents to study Phantom inside and out, and from the look of his skin they had taken it often.

So Danny reached the door to the lab and carefully peered in, just watching, as his parents worked on a shaking Phantom.

There were no screams, but that didn't mean Phantom wasn't trying. Danny had learned that he often hurt his vocal chords screaming, and the only reason he could speak was because he healed so quickly and so well.

His father blocked most of Phantom's body from Danny's view, but Phantom always seemed to know when Danny showed up, for he started to twist and struggle anew. Limbs starting to glow a violent green before the straps snapped and Jack and Maddie were thrown backwards.

Danny watched as Phantom's eyes turned a solid green and the pain etched on his face giving into a terrifying grin as his body rose limply from the table, as if someone had hung him in the air, blood dripping from a fresh cut across his chest.

Danny burst through the door and threw his body at Phantom, pulling the other boy into a tight hug even though his head now only reached Phantom's bloody chest.

Jack and Maddie watched as the green glow slowly receded from the ghost boy's eyes and body and a confused look replaced it, his gaze traveling over the room before passing right over them and looking at the teen hanging on to his chest.

His feet touched the floor and his body slumped forward, the sudden weight causing Danny to stumble before he regained his balance. He turned, Phantom still in his arms, and gave his parents a cool look.

"I think that might be enough for today."

Jack opened his mouth to snap, but caught the look on Maddie's face. She was guilty again, of not being able to hold off her instincts, and she was now near in tears from it.

So Jack said nothing, only gathered his wife in strong arms and took her away, cursing her, and this experiment, and the fact that Danny had seemed so much stronger then he ever had before. Because Jack knew the look on Danny's face, the look he had once worn when marriage had been new and his only thought had been to Protect and Love Maddie.

Jack cursed his son for falling in love with his and Maddie's mistake.

* * *

"Hey Hey! Knock that off!" 

Phantom laughed and darted away.

"Only if you can catch me!"

Danny jumped over a discarded jacket and bolted after Phantom, the boys laughing and chasing each other throughout the house.

It was six weeks after Danny had started teaching Phantom, but he now found himself with a problem. There was nothing more he could teach.

Phantom picked everything up too quickly for Danny to replace them with, and really, Phantom was already at a higher level of intelligence then the raven haired boy anyway. So it really hadn't mattered to Danny when he'd run out of things to teach, it just left more time to play.

So while he doctored up the reports for his mother and downplayed the results, he played with Phantom, who had been given free range of the house as long as Danny was with him. Sort of a guilt gift to Danny from his mother, though she and Jack had stopped talking to him directly anymore.

However, being out of the lab meant that Phantom was required to wear clothes. Clothes that were constantly being removed because Phantom did NOT like them in the least. It was much more comfortable to be naked, he'd told Danny. One should not have clothing rubbing against places that should only feel air, or at least according to Phantom.

Which is why that as he raced through the house his clothes came flying off and into Danny's face, and why Danny was currently dodging a blue shirt.

"Phantom!" Danny's voice was exasperated even as he laughed. "You really do need to wear clothes. What if my sister was home!"

Phantom's reply came after the pants were flung in Danny's direction. "Then I would make sure she got a big hug!"

At that he abruptly turned and ran into Danny's room, the door slamming shut inches in front of Danny's face.

Danny growled and knocked on the door, only to have it opened by a naked Phantom.

Phantom gave him a cheeky grin and flopped face first onto Danny's bed.

Danny just shook his head and lay down beside Phantom, hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

"Remind me again why you won't at least wear boxers?"

"They itch."

Danny rolled his eyes at the lie. "They do not you big baby."

"Fine, then I must use the old stand-by of 'I don't wanna!'"

Danny smacked Phantom's head lightly. "Brat."

Phantom twitched. "I am no such thing. If anyone is the bratty one it MUST be you. Whining all the time, constantly nagging me… you are worse then those women in the soap boxes."

It took Danny a second before he understood what Phantom was talking about.

"You mean soap operas? How would you know about those?"

Phantom snorted. "Your lifegiver watches them each day in the lab. Something about the fat one not letting her watch them upstairs."

Phantom firmly refused to call Jack and Maddie anything that denoted affection, such as mother, father, or caretaker. He instead used words that merely described them, some nicer than others.

Danny didn't ever reprimand him for it though, Phantom had too much hatred towards the two to ever feel anything but, and Danny himself felt like he was detaching from them as well. The names now just names, used out of habit rather then affection.

"I do want to know what the purpose of all that mating and crying is for. That's all they do! Mate, cry, mate, cry. It's like they can't do anything but. If that is commonplace human behavior count me out. I want nothing to do with the whining of women."

Danny cracked up at the look on Phantom's face. "No no, soap operas don't exactly follow real human lives. That junk is made up for women to cry and gossip over. Nothing remotely real about it."

Phantom looked a bit relieved at that.

"Most of what you watch on TV isn't real; it's made up for entertainment. People like to watch shows about people with a lot of problems; it takes their mind off their own."

Phantom snorted again and turned to face Danny with a look that clearly said he thought all humans were complete idiots before dropping his head back down to the bed.

They lay in silence for a bit, enjoying the company and the quiet, before Phantom started to get restless.

And when Phantom got restless it usually meant that Danny was in for another game of 'try not to let the neighbors see a naked teen boy.'

He'd lost a few times, and the cops were on the verge of fining them heavily, so a restless Phantom was not something that he wanted to deal with right now. None the less, he carefully pulled himself into a sitting position so he could make a grab for Phantom if he tried to run.

"Why does it _do_ that!"

So this was NOT what Danny was expecting at all.

Phantom had rolled over and was pointing towards his crotch, where his once limp member was starting to harden and rise.

Danny had seen Phantom naked since the moment he'd been created. Given him baths and taught him to dress, even if he didn't like clothes that much, and had certainly seen this many times before. So Danny would have thought that he would be fairly indifferent.

Except right now Danny was as red as a tomato and pointedly looking into Phantom's face, indicating that something felt just a tad different. Hell, it wasn't as though he'd never had an erection before or never dealt with one in an exceedingly embarrassing situation. The school locker room meant that he'd seen more guys half-hard then he really cared to think about.

So why was his face beet red and his heartbeat becoming slightly erratic, and why did he suddenly receive more than a few graphic mental images best left to a porno?

Not that he'd ever seen a porno mind you, but boys talked about two things while showering. Girls, and having sex with said girls. And more then a few of them had unabashedly shared personal experiences along with their movie recaps.

Phantom looked at Danny's red face and pushed lightly on his forehead.

"You alright?"

Danny found that his mouth was a bit to dry to speak, so he just nodded his head and stared straight up, the ceiling becoming a whole lot more interesting then it had been a few minutes ago.

Phantom was not deterred in the least by Danny's silence. He just started to stare at the side of Danny's head, having learned nearly from the start that it was the best way to get him to do something.

Danny shuddered and reluctantly turned on his side, facing the Phantom and growling.

"I hate it when you do that."

Phantom smirked. "I know, and you still haven't answered my question."

Danny was incredibly embarrassed, but tried as best he could to give Phantom an answer without details.

"It means you are aroused. It happens to humans when they are thinking about sex."

This was, of course, the extremely modified and condensed version, but Danny didn't feel like going into the topic of the birds and the bees. He'd avoided it in teaching, and was going to continue on that path until something, like this, forced it out of him.

"Sex, as in to make children?"

Danny ground his teeth together. "Yes"

Phantom looked down his body in distaste, clearly not liking that idea, before turning his head back to Danny.

"How do I get rid of it?"

Danny nearly choked on the breath he'd just taken. This conversation was not going the way he wanted it to, mainly away, and he _really_ didn't want to discuss masturbating and the how to.

Because that brought another set of images to mind, all with him doing not-so-clean things to the boy lying next to him.

Phantom poked Danny in the shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright? Your face keeps getting darker and darker."

Danny was cursing under his breath, what he had left of it anyway, and was trying to will away his own erection. Goddamn hormones were making it hard to not press his body against Phantom's and…

Danny wrenched his mind away from the daydream Phantom and stood up stiffly. Grabbing the real one by the arm and hauling him up.

Phantom looked slightly confused as he let Danny pull him into the hall.

"Where are we going?"

Danny didn't look back at him, just kept his head forward and his steps as steady as he could.

"We are going to take a very cold shower."

* * *

Kyuugi: Go read _In Bed With Vlad_!! Also by ME!


	7. A Lesson in Kisses

Kyuugi: How is everyone? You guys have a Happy Christmas? Didja get what you wanted?

Iisha: We got SOCKS!!

Kyuugi: -nods- Uh huh!! They are all red and fuzzly.

Iisha: And even though it is 2am over here, as soon as this is up it's back to playing HARVEST MOON!!!

Kyuugi: Yeah... Gotta love HM.

Iisha: OH! BIG NEWS!!

Kyuugi: We have officially recieved our first FLAME!!

Iisha: So gather around while we feed it to Axel.

Axel: Gimmie!! NOW!

Kyuugi: -dangling flame- You want it? You want it?

Axel: Gimmie!! GIMMIE NOW!! -grabs- Yumyumyumyum...

Iisha: Love you guys!

* * *

Experimental Love ch7

A Lesson in Kisses-

Jack was not happy.

That in itself was a rare occurance, or it had used to be, but now…

He firmly blamed it on his wife, son, and that godforsaken experiment. Nothing would be as out of whack right now if it hadn't been for them.

He would be happily working in the lab beside Maddie, talking about little things that didn't really matter, and not dealing with a ruined BOO-merang.

Really. It was _supposed_ to search out and attack ghosts. That was what he designed it to do.

The boy had different ideas on that though. Jack had let the BOO-merang fly, following it to see it hit the kid in the head. The damn kid had thrown it against the wall and broken it in half.

Then the kid had run to Danny, using his body as a shield, and protested loudly in broken and backwards English.

Jack sneered. Why Maddie and his son thought they could teach the kid was preposterous. It was obvious that the kid wasn't getting much better at anything. The reports that Danny had been giving for 7 weeks now were starting to flatten out, and frankly Jack was relieved.

This just proved that teaching the kid was a bad idea. Now it thought that running to Danny would save him. How could he know that Danny was required to give the boy back whenever Maddie or himself felt like it.

That gave Jack sort of a vindictive pleasure as he thought about it.

No matter what his wife or son seemed to think, that boy was nothing but an experiment, and he was going to use the time he had to the fullest extent. After all, who knew when the kid's heart might give out? Jack was careful with his scalpel, but accidents did happen…

* * *

Danny was not having a good day. 

First, Dash had found him before school had started and pushed him into a wonderfully placed mud puddle. So Danny was now walking around in 'his' gym clothes.

Not that that wasn't as bad as it could have been, except someone had made sure that the only clothes in his locker were a bit… off.

Which is to say, that Danny was faced with either staying in his muddy, sticky wet clothes, or wearing leather hot pants and a tinkerbell t-shirt.

The mystery person had even thought to give him fresh underwear, not that Danny thought that thongs were underwear. So thoughtful.

Danny had fully considering skipping and just going home. Except that Lancer had already seen him, and stipulation number 3 of his contract said that he was required to be in school unless otherwise directed by his parents.

Sooooooo… thong and hot pants it was.

Danny was walking to class, fully aware of each and every stare he was getting, and becoming quite embarrassed.

Dash was going to pay for this one.

This was worse then walking around in that stupid diaper. At least then he'd had 'the counselor made me do it' for an excuse. Now he had nothing because no-one had seen him 'fall' into the mud, and Dash certainly wasn't going to spill.

The clothes weren't that comfortable to begin with, but stares made him wish that he had a huge robe to cover up in. I mean, couldn't the teachers send him home? Dress code, hello?

Right. Seeing as the girls got away with what they did it was apparent that the teachers didn't really care. So Danny was stuck, hot pants and all, with no escape.

And hot pants were _really_ not that comfortable.

Right, not a good day.

* * *

Danny threw his bag onto his floor and immediately stripped himself of the distasteful clothing, throwing them into a corner of his room where he was sure to forget about them. 

Danny sighed as he pulled up clean boxers. The thong had been a bit more comfortable then he'd originally thought, and eventually the leather had felt alright as well, but nothing beat boxers as his underwear of choice.

Danny pulled on pants and a white shirt and set down to do his homework.

It was easier to get it done first thing on the weekends so he had time for more pleasant things. Mainly playing with Phantom.

Except… being around Phantom was getting harder. Phantom's aversion to clothing coupled with his still fairly naïve attitude towards sex and arousal made Danny blush, and try to find ways to deal with his own increasingly frequent erections that didn't involve shoving Phantom to a wall. Or table. Or floor.

His imagination wasn't picky.

So Danny was a bit more skittish then usual, and was a bit more firm on the clothing rule. Not that Phantom LIKED that, but Danny was going for not jumping him. It just had to be done.

"You know, I rather liked those shorts on you."

Danny's head whipped around to find Phantom leaning against the closed door.

"How the hell…?"

Phantom smirked. "You didn't think I just twiddled my thumbs when no one was with me in the lab."

Danny's mouth was still open. He hadn't known much of anything that Phantom hadn't told him or he hadn't seen by himself.

"I didn't know you could get out of the lab."

Phantom's smirk grew even wider. "Let's just say that I have gained control of most of my powers, and that things will be a bit different from now on."

Danny's eyes grew wide. That was a threat if he'd ever heard one.

"What are you planning on doing?"

Phantom must have noticed Danny's unease, for he dropped the smirk and walked over and wrapped his arms around Danny.

"Nothing yet."

Ever frank, Phantom didn't see the need to lie or mask the truth. It wasn't in his nature, nor in his teachings. Danny had stressed truth, and Phantom respected that.

And Danny realized that, so he didn't press Phantom, just leaned into the embrace as hands rubbed circles on his shoulders.

"That feels nice…"

Phantom chuckled. "I still think you looked good in those shorts."

Danny snorted. "You are the only one then. Half the school thought I was gay and the other half were positive. I have _never_ gotten so many dirty looks in one day."

Phantom stopped rubbing.

"These people have hurt you?"

It was a demanding question. Phantom was NOT happy.

Danny shook his head.

"Not really. They just laughed, poked fingers, and generally made fun of my pitiful existence. Not anything new for me."

That did nothing to make Phantom feel better. He knew that Danny wasn't well liked, and that really he only had two friends. Both of which were currently not speaking to Danny. Something about priorities and friendships over science.

It wasn't something Phantom wanted to understand, but he knew that he was the reason that Danny's old friends were mad. Danny had told them everything, including the reason he spent so much time with Phantom, but they seemed convinced that they were being dropped for a 'newer model.'

Phantom couldn't really care less, but it had made Danny upset. Upset enough to cry himself to sleep that night when he was in bed. He hadn't known Phantom was watching, invisible, from the corner of his room.

Phantom had felt hurt. Hurt that Danny didn't confide in him, and hurt that he couldn't do anything to help Danny like Danny had helped him.

But then again, Phantom hadn't been completely honest with Danny either.

* * *

Ok. That was new. 

Phantom was wearing clothes of his own volition.

That in itself would have made Danny very happy. Except that the clothes that Phantom had put on…

Just happened to be the leather hot pants Danny had been forced to wear the previous day, and he looked really, really good.

Not that Danny was watching. Of course not, his attention was on the TV screen.

What movie were they watching again?

Oh right, American Pie.

Danny still wasn't sure how Jazz had talked both him _and_ his parents into letting him and Phantom have a movie night, but he was grateful as hell towards her. She was going to get something nice for her birthday.

But then the problem had been that in order to watch the movie with him and Jazz, Phantom had been required to wear clothes. At least pants, Danny had told him.

So Phantom had taken the leather hot pants and put them on, grumbling to himself as he did so. He really did not like clothing.

'Well, maybe just these.'

Phantom had looked at himself in Danny's mirror and grinned. These weren't so bad. They fit nicely and didn't interfere with his movement; and the useless fleshy skin that usually hung between his legs was snugged close to his body, keeping it out of the way. That in itself made the 'pants' worth wearing. That had to be the most annoying part of the human body in Phantom's opinion.

And the fact that Danny was turning redder by the second was a plus.

It amused Phantom to no end to embarrass his human partner. Phantom was well aware of sexual attraction, he'd cornered Danny and made him explain everything he knew about the subject. He also knew that Danny was incredibly attracted towards him, he could smell it. One thing about having enhanced sense meant that not a whole lot got past him.

Phantom also was quite aware of his own attraction to Danny, and loved to make the boy stutter and stumble over his sentences when Phantom 'naively' asked yet _another_ question about sex.

And as he watched Danny try not to watch him. Phantom was even more amused.

* * *

"Phantom. I'm SURE that we have gone over this." 

"You'll have to run it by me again, I'm afraid that I don't remember."

Which would have been entirely possible had Phantom not been a genius, and had this not been what it was.

"Phantom, I really don't want to go over this again. I'm sure that we have gone over this, and I'm sure that you remember it."

Danny bowed his head for a second.

"And I really don't like the fact that you are pressuring me like this."

Phantom did not like where this was going. In reality, he remembered. Of course he remembered. He just really wanted to do it again.

Time to try a different tactic.

"Please?"

"Why? Why do you want to go over this again? I thought you disliked this part of human activities."

"That was before I found out how interesting it was."

"Interesting?"

"Yes interesting. I want to learn the techniques. I want to do well in this subject, just like I do in any other."

"So this is just learning for you."

"Yes."

A lie. A fully blatent lie. Not that Phantom was ready to admit it.

"You remember what I told you about it? That it is a fairly serious activity? You know, something that increased the bond between two people?"

Phantom started to frown, he hadn't expected this level of reaction from Danny. He knew that Danny wanted to do it again, his nose picked that up very clearly. Something else was stopping Danny from what they both wanted, and it was making him very upset.

"You don't want a strong bond with me?"

Maybe that was it. This activity was too special for Danny to waste on him.

Danny looked up to find a hurt expression on Phantom's face and sighed.

"It isn't that I don't want too… but… you don't understand what it means."

That threw Phantom. He didn't understand what it meant? What was there not to understand? It increased bonds between people and was highly pleasurable, and he'd seen several teenagers do it on the TV with no hesitation. What was the meaning behind that?

"What does it mean then."

Phantom was curious. What else could it mean?

Danny took a deep breath.

"It's like a promise."

Now Phantom was very confused. How could it mean a promise? Humans did this before sex… maybe it was a promise to make babies. Maybe the two people that did this were promising each other that they would spawn, like when male birds built a nest for the females.

Wait. They had already done it once, did that mean that Danny expected him to have babies? Or was it Danny who would have them? Phantom was now more confused then ever. He thought that only females could bear young, so how in the world was this going to work out with him and Danny.

He looked up to see a concerned Danny.

"I don't want babies!"

Danny was taken aback. What did babies have to do with this? The look on Phantom's face was too hard to ignore however, and Danny laughed.

"What makes you think babies have anything to do with that?"

Phantom tugged at his braid, a habit he'd acquired while alone.

"You said a promise, and on TV they always kiss before having sex. Sex leads to babies does it not? So how do babies not have anything to do with this?"

Danny was doubled over in laughter, the earlier tension gone from the air, and nearly falling off his seat.

Phantom huffed and glared at Danny from his chair. Not quite as amused with this as Danny seemed to be.

"Kissing has nothing to do with babies I assure you. Well, I mean, it does, but not in that way."

Danny was still laughing, tears rolling down his face as he tried to compose himself.

"Then what did you mean by promise? I can think of nothing else."

Danny's mood sobered quite a bit, though he was still chuckling as he wiped the tears off his cheeks.

"I meant that usually a kiss is between boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife. A promise to stay together."

Phantom was not especially happy with this explanation.

"So you don't want to stay with me? Is that why you won't kiss me?"

Danny flinched.

"It isn't like that. I meant as lovers. People who want to spend their lives together."

An extremist approach to the subject, but Phantom was being incredibly thickheaded today…

"So only if you are having sex can you kiss? Then why did you kiss me the first time?"

Danny flinched again.

"Can't we just drop this? I don't know how to explain it any more then I already have."

Phantom was not ready to drop it. If Danny said that only lovers kissed then why had he done it in the first place, and why was he so reluctant to do it again when it was obvious that he wanted too.

And if he had done it in the first place then it was clear to Phantom that Danny must _want_ to spend their lives together, or he wouldn't have done it in the first place.

So, reasoning and thinking aside, Phantom did what any hormonally charged, frustrated male would do.

He kissed Danny.

Hard.

* * *

"You can't just kiss him like that." 

"Why not? I know he wanted it just as much as I did, and his explanations left much to be desired. He basically told me that he either wanted it and was planning on spending the rest of his life with me or that he never wanted to see me again."

Jazz sighed. Phantom was lost on the subtly of human actions. He just hadn't been around them long enough to pick them up.

"Look, you obviously know that Danny is attracted to you, that much is a given, but you can't just up and kiss him because he gave you an unsatisfactory answer. He may not know the answer himself."

Phantom looked disgruntled. "How was I supposed to know that? He won't talk about these things unless I pester him about them, and I only have the TV to look to for tips on sex. What am I supposed to do?"

Jazz rubbed her temples with her fingertips.

"Danny really likes you, but he doesn't think that what he feels is reciprocated. So he is trying to keep that part of himself distanced from you. So that when you…"

Jazz stopped, a conflicted look in her eyes, and let the sentence go.

Except that Phantom knew what she was going to say, and finished it for her.

"So that when your idiotic elders kill me he won't feel as hurt? Is that what you were going to say?"

Jazz sucked up a breath, increasingly aware of Phantom's glowing green eyes, and tried to look nonchalant.

"I was going to say hurt."

Phantom sneered. "I am already hurt. You think I don't know about that stupid deal Danny made with your parents? No, that fat one has begun to get careless and in lieu of my wonderful acting skills thinks I have the mind capabilities of a five year old. So he talks to me. Talks to me about my stupidity, and how he will relish the day when I have to return to the elements I was created out of."

Jazz shuddered. She did not need to hear this.

"Talk about how stupid it is to run and hide behind Danny because Danny can't save me. That if he said the word Danny would never be able to see me again?"

Phantom spit onto the carpet at Jazz's feet.

"No. The only reason I stay is Danny. And he will understand that even if I have to force it on him."

Phantom's body rose off the floor a few inches.

"He is mine. No one else will order him around any further. And I will kill anyone who hurts him again, even if I have to break his spirit to do it."

He flew up into the ceiling, stopping only when Jazz softly called his name.

"Then tell him how you feel, and let him know that he is important. Danny thinks that everyone will leave him someday, that is why he won't let anyone close to him."

Phantom disappeared.


	8. Reasoning

It wasn't that Jack enjoyed seeing blood. Not many people did. It was the fact that it wasn't human blood that made it interesting, that made him want to see it over and over. Like he couldn't get tired of it. 

The fact that he hated the boy who carried it made it sweeter.

Technically, it wasn't the boy's fault. He was a victim of circumstance and bleeding hearts. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In reality it was Danny's fault. Because Danny had broken the rules in the first place. Had looked in on something that he shouldn't have, and had started the ball rolling. Had broken Maddie's carefully constructed barriers.  
Had ruined years of research and testing in one evening.

Because in reality, Danny was the one to fault for being human. For caring about others, for seeing hurt, and trying to help however he could.

Danny would have never made a scientist, Jack was sure of that. He would never be able to seperate his caring nature from his inquisitive one, and would never be able to put his emotional side away from his professional one.

Maddie had the same problem. Probably where Danny got it from. She had troubles with setting boundries and keeping them in place, no matter what happened on the outside.

Teaching the boy had been a horrible idea. There was a saying; One grain of knowledge is stronger than one hundred grains of force. And as little the boy seemed to be picking up, it was still learning something. Something that could mean the difference between complacency and revolution.

The boy was already resisting more then Jack was happy with. Not to say that it was unexpected, or that Jack wouldn't do the same, but the rate was increasing at an alarming pace. Jack was certain that Danny was involved.

Danny was always involved.

Jack was going to make sure that his family was protected. Nothing was more important then that.

Nothing.

* * *

Phantom was panting on the table. Glistening with sweat as his body strained against the restraints. 

He wouldn't take this much longer. He couldn't. The tests grew harsher and harsher with each passing day, and he was certain that his body was at it's limit.

Pain, through his chest again. The knife was back, poking and prodding about his insides. He groaned as it bit into the muscle again and again. It fucking hurt, like where ever the knife touched it started to burn. They must have put something on the knife again, trying to figure out what his body rejected and what it just burned through healing.

It was a long and painful process, one Phantom was tired of.

Danny had kissed him last night. That was why fatty was so vicious with the knife. He'd heard the moans, and was angry. Angry that his own son should chose an experiment over blood. Dear old dad was becoming part of the backround, and wasn't happy about it.

So he was taking it out on Phantom.

Phantom would have felt sorry for him had he not been the one digging around with the knife.

He clenched his teeth again as the knife twisted. He was almost at his limit, there couldn't be much more before he snapped.

Danny had kissed him. After he'd told Phantom what it meant. It meant that he wanted to be together forever. It meant that Phantom was the most important.

It meant that Phantom had permission right? Permission to break free?

Didn't it?

Wasn't that what Danny had said? That when people kissed it was a sign to each other that they were the most important? That they were to keep each other safe and happy?

Wasn't that what happened in all those movies Jazz watched? The boy kissed the girl, then protected her to the death?

Where was Danny then?

Or maybe it was different with them, maybe Danny wanted Phantom to rescue him. Maybe Phantom had to be the strong one.

Then it was permission.

Permission to break free.

Permission to kill.


	9. Phantom's Revolt

Kyuugi: HAH!! Bet you all thought that last chapter was a bit short huh.

Iisha: Well fear not mortal humans!! We bring you MORE!

Kyuugi: That's right! And now MORE can be yours for only $9999.99!! (Think Mike the TV)

Iisha: Anyway, that last chapter was just to explain why Phantom believed he had permission to kill J & M.

Kyuugi: Tell your friends to come read!! I love breaking in newbies!

Iisha: Oh, and for some reason the html stupids-stuffs won't let me return after a ruler break, nor will it let me use the br TO break.

Kyuugi: Yeah, so if any of you know what I could be doing wrong, please drop me a message.

Iisha: And because we forgot the disclaimer last chapters...

DISCLAIMER! I DON'T BE OWNING IT x 3

Warning: Has blood and screams and angst. Oh, and just a hint of smoochin'.

* * *

Experimental Love ch 8

Phantom's Revolt-

He hoped to god that it was just attraction.

He knew better, really, but he still hoped. Hoped that when his parents inevitably killed the boy he would only feel the loss of the warm and willing body. Only the loss of a psuedo-friend.

Right? That was all Phantom was. Because Danny didn't want to think about life without love, not after knowing it.

So there was no love. Nothing but lust and desire. Nothing that could hurt him.

Nothing.

Danny was crying over nothing.

He swiped his hand across his face again, sending the drops flying. His eyes were red, his nose running, and all in all was not a pretty sight.

And all because he was crying over nothing.

"Danny."

Oh god. He wasn't ready, he couldn't just pretend. He couldn't, there were so many things that he wanted to say. Hell, at least apologize for everything. He couldn't just watch Phantom be killed.

Danny didn't want to get close. He didn't want to be involved. He didn't want to pull the weight that he'd appointed himself. It meant that he would hurt the only one he really cared about in the end, and Danny couldn't.

"Danny."

There was no talking in lust. At least, not the emotional shit. Lust was safe.

Off came Danny's shirt, taking the tears and snot along with it.

"Danny."

His name, whispered. It sounded like a caress, something he couldn't have, so Danny pressed his mouth to the offending one.

The tears were starting again, and Danny didn't know why. This was supposed to be safe, why did it hurt?

"Danny."

That voice. Low and soft and full of promise. Full of desire and need and something Danny didn't want to hear, because it meant that Danny had lost. Because it meant that Danny was lost.

"Please..."

His own voice, choked with emotions that shouldn't be there. Begging. Pleading.

"Please..."

Tears flooded his eyes, his face already wet and raw from the first round, and he pressed his mouth more firmly to the other.

This was sex. This was safe.

* * *

Phantom was not happy. It was clear to him that humans were nothing more then useless sacks of flesh made only for the enjoyment of the higher species. What species he wasn't sure about, but if humans were the most intelligent beings on the planet then the world's end could not come quickly enough.

Maybe he would kill them all. It couldn't hurt, and it would make his existance so much more pleasent. He wouldn't have to deal with the stupid rules, the stupid feelings, not anything but his own enjoyment. Or maybe he'd kill himself once he'd erraticated the humans.

It was the feelings that made them weak.

Emotions were illogical, and had no purpose in his eyes. There was nothing that they did that involved emotions. Or nothing important anyway.

Emotions seemed to get in the way of more favorable activities, making them out for more then what they were.

Danny.

Phantom wanted Danny, and had willingly participated in their activites. There hadn't been anything more than groping, not that it hadn't been fun, because Danny had broken into tears. Had made Phantom feel something.

Made Phantom feel something that shifted all of his priorities until Danny was first, and revenge came second.

Made Phantom talk softly and encourage rather then take what he knew they both wanted.

Made Phantom want to protect Danny from anything and everything.

Made Phantom feel weak.

Phantom hated feeling weak. It was a feeling that had dominated most of his short life and he was tired of it. First not being able to communicate, then not really knowing what everything was, then not having control of his powers.

Nearly everything was a weakness. Including Danny.

Anger he liked. Anger did not require him to think, did not require him to question the human boundries. Because in anger, everything was acceptable. Nothing was done out of weakness.

And Phantom was very angry.

* * *

The fact that Phantom had listened to her meant that he cared for Danny more then he let on. Jazz was sure of that.

She was a bit fuzzy on the details, but she did know that Phantom was far from happy and accepting of humans. Last night had been proof of that.

In fact, Jazz was willing to bet that Phantom was close to snapping. While Danny had seen some of the experiments on Phantom, Jazz had seen much more. Not that she was going to tell him that, Danny seemed ready to snap as well.

Though considering what she'd heard from his room last night he might have already. She was surprized her parents hadn't come raging in. Or at least her dad. Jazz knew that he hated Phantom, hated him fiercely. It was only because of her mom that Phantom was alive at all.

Jazz shook her head. Danny was caught in the middle of this, and she knew that it wouldn't, no, that it couldn't end well. Not for everyone.

She would try though, try to help both of them whenever she could. Because she knew more then her parents what Danny had gone through already, and she wanted him at least to have a happy ending.

It looked as though he would be the only one alive to get one.

* * *

There was a crash from the lab, pulling Danny's attention away from his homework. He knocked his chair over and nearly tripped on his rug as he bolted out of his room.

He met Jazz in the kitchen, both of them stopping just short of running into each other.

She shook her head at his questioning gaze and they both dashed to the lab, Danny throwing the door open with a bang.

Inside was a terrified Maddie, a livid Jack, and a grinning Phantom. Jazz went to Maddie while Danny ran to Phantom.

"What now?"

It was a whispered question. Danny had Phantom in a bear hug hold and wasn't letting go.

"Just a bit of fun on fatty's part. Nothing new. But you already know about all of this don't you?"

The sarcasm in Phantom's voice was tinged with malice and anger. Danny took a deep breath before answering.

"Just tell them to stop. Or leave. I know you can, why don't you?"

Phantom's eyes were beginning to glow a neon green.

"Please. You think I haven't tried? They have some sort of shield that prevents me from leaving while they are in here. Something about my defense mechanism bringing out my latent powers."

Jack watched the two boys talk quietly, eyes narrowed into near slits. What Maddie said be damned. That boy was going to die tonight. Then maybe his family would regain their sanity. If they couldn't see that the boy was dangerous, then it was his responsibility to keep his family safe. Even if they didn't like his methods.

Jack loved his family. He wouldn't let them die because of a damn experiment gone mad. He'd have to be dead first.

Maddie quietly sat in the corner holding Jazz's hand. She knew that this entire thing was her fault. In reality she was no good as a scientist. She wasn't crazy enough to ignore what needed to be ignored. She wasn't cold enough to kill what needed to be killed.

She was a failure. She'd noticed Danny's feelings long before he had, she could have put a stop to everything then. It was just as Jack had said. She was condeming him to death because she hadn't wanted him to be so melancholy.

So Maddie was terrified not to die. She was terrified to be left alone with her horrible decisions and no one to support her.

Terrified not to die.

Jazz just held her mother's hand. There wasn't much more she could do. Phantom didn't trust her enough to talk to her like he did Danny, and there was no way she could hold back her father if he decided to fight. She would probably just get caught in the crossfire anyway.

So she did the only thing she could do, she held on to her mom like she was a little girl again. Hoping that Danny could get Phantom calmed down. Hoping that they could get a little more time from a ticking bomb.

* * *

In some corner of Phantom's mind, he knew that what he'd just done was going to hurt Danny. At the moment however, he did not care. His entire focus was on the two people who he hated the most. Who had tortured him and left Danny to pick up the pieces.

Who were now dead.

There was blood everywhere. Coating most of the lab in it's crimson glory. Dripping from the machines and tables.

Dripping from Phantom.

It had been sweet, killing them. Ripping their bodies apart joint by joint. Cutting smooth flesh until it was in shreds. Pumping an ectoplasmic beam into their organs until they exploded.

It had been glorious. Everything Phantom had dreamed of and more, because their screams had been better then he'd imagined.

Phantom sat in the gore and began to play. Dragging his fingers through the slick blood and laughing as he made patterns. First came him, a small stick figure in the middle of his 'drawing' space. Then Danny, right next to him, then a whole bunch of stick figures. All in various stages of death.

Laughing and drawing.

* * *

That was how Danny found him. Laughing and drawing in a pool of blood.

Danny rushed over, blood seeping through his sneakers and jeans, and ran his hands over Phantom.

"You aren't hurt?"

Phantom just laughed, and Danny stepped back to look at the lab.

Covered in blood. This wasn't all from...

Oh god.

Danny turned and retched. Again and again, even when there was nothing more to come up. Even when bile turned to blood and he felt numb.

Even as Phantom laughed.

Danny fell to his knees, arms around his stomach as he tried to stop. Covered in blood, sweat and vomit. Trying not to remember what he'd seen.

Phantom finally crawled over to Danny and wrapped his blood covered arms around him. Pulling Danny into a tight hug and sighing as he did so.

"They can't hurt me anymore. They can't hurt you anymore. We're safe."

Danny clenched his fists and broke into sobs, shoving Phantom away.

"You..."

Danny was so insensed that he couldn't speak. He'd known that it would happen, Phantom had told him that much.

But seeing it...

"You... get out."

Phantom seemed surprised.

"Get out! GET OUT!"

An angry look settled on his face. He wasn't going to leave, not after finally getting what he wanted. Not after securing the only solid thing in his future.

"No. You are mine. I will not leave what is mine."

"Yours! You think that killing my parents makes me happy? Maybe I should have listened to my dad about you! Maybe then they wouldn't be dead!"

Danny's voice was hysterical. He may have had a dwindling relationship with his parents, they had never been exceptionally close, but seeing the people who took care of you all your life dead...

Phantom growled.

"Now it is YOU who don't understand. You kissed me. Over and over you kissed me. Do you remember what you told me that meant? That it was a promise to be together forever. You promised me, and I intend to have you keep that."

Phantom made a dismissive gesture towards what was left of the corpses.

"They were in my way. You knew something would happen, I never told you anything different. So why are you upset now, why didn't you tell me to stop before this happened."

Phantom grinned cruelly.

"You are just as much to blame as I am. That kiss told me that you wanted to be with me, that your parents didn't matter. So guess what, you killed them too."

Danny screamed.

He pulled out of the embrace and ran. Out of the lab, out of the house, he just ran.

Phantom let him go. Danny would never be able to hide from him.

Never.

* * *

"It was discovered today that Jack and Maddie Fenton were brutally murdered in their own home. Their daughter, Jazzmine Fenton, had walked into the pair's labratory to find blood covering the walls. She immediately called the police, who when they arrived found the corpses of what is believed to be Jack and Maddie Fenton."

"Jazzmine is the only member of the family accounted for at this time, as her brother, Daniel Fenton, was not found on the premisis. It is believed that he saw something in regards to the murder and was forced to run."

"If you have any information on the murders of Jack and Maddie Fenton, or the whereabouts of their son, please contact the police."


	10. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Kyuugi: -cowers- I'M SORRY!!

Iisha: As you should be! These people have been waiting forever for your lazy ass to get back here!

Kyuugi: I'm sorry... It's just that I had writers block, and then the new semester of college started, and then life decided to suck...

Iisha: You are full of excuses. Shut up and post.

Kyuugi: And because she asked, Xx.Fma-Dnangel.xX is gunna tell the policemans the what for.

Xx.Fma-Dnangel.xX: Phantom did it!

Kyuugi: And the beat goes on!!

Iisha: Hope to see all of you back! This story is coming to the end, I think there are only 3 more chapters? Maybe...

Kyuugi: But we do have a new one already in the works called _'Dancing With A Phantom,' _I hope at least some of you will come back for that one.

Iisha: More on that as this story ends.

DISCLAIMER: I NOT OWNING!!!

* * *

Experimental Love ch 9 

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!-

Danny was running.

He didn't really know where to, or how long he'd been running. He just knew that he wanted to put as much distance in between him and everyone else.

Especially Phantom.

There had been blood. Blood covering everything.

Phantom…

Covering Phantom.

Because Phantom had killed his parents. Had torn their bodies apart and then sat in the gore, drawing and laughing, a macabre grin on his face.

Worse, he hadn't done anything to stop Phantom in the first place. Phantom had been right, he had killed his parents. He'd known Phantom would do something, Phantom had told him that, but he hadn't done anything.

Hadn't done anything to save his parents.

Danny clutched his arms to his chest as he ran, tears burning his eyes and face. What could he have done? There was no way his dad would have run; in fact Jack probably would have just killed Phantom whenever he got the chance. His mom wouldn't have done anything either, she had been so out of it who knew if she would've even heard him.

Jazz would have listened to him, but she couldn't have done anything to save them. Phantom was to powerful for her to even think about fighting. There just wasn't anything that they could have done.

Nothing.

Danny collapsed, his body giving out from the constant running he'd done. He had to be miles away from the town by now, in one of the forests that rimmed the city.

He just hoped that it would be far enough so that Phantom wouldn't find him.

The whole thing had been a mistake. He should have listened to his dad, should have known that it was a bad idea, and not tried to indulge his false sense of justice. People were hurt all the time, it didn't mean that he had to save them all, and he should have…

No.

Befriending Phantom hadn't been a mistake, it had been one of the best things Danny had ever done. He just hadn't really believed that Phantom would go to that extreme. He'd been turning a blind eye to Phantom's feelings, all of them, and had seen them for what they were to late.

His parents were dead because of that mistake.

Dead.

And with any luck, he'd be next.

* * *

Phantom looked around Danny's room. Jack and Maddie were pushed into the back of his mind as he searched for the one article of clothing he actually liked. 

Leather hot pants.

There they were, Danny had obviously tried to hide them again, stuck in between the mattress and the box spring. Phantom pulled them out and stepped into them, his wet skin making the leather stick slightly as they slid up his legs. He adjusted himself and looked into the mirror, posing once for effect, and then flopped onto the bed.

It had been a few days since he'd killed Jack and Maddie and Danny had run away. Danny was somewhere in the woods, police were all over the house, and he was feeling content.

Or he would have been if Danny were here to enjoy this with him.

Why Danny had gotten so upset he hadn't really known. He'd thought that Danny would have been thrilled to be out from under the tyranny of those two disgusting humans, not cry over them. They were the same weren't they? Both Danny and Phantom had been given life and 'cared' for by them, and both had felt pain at their hands. So why had Danny reacted the way he had.

Phantom threw Danny's pillow across the room. Stupid humans.

Still, Phantom was getting worried about Danny. He'd thought that Danny would come back after a few hours, ready to accept his new life with Phantom, and been happy.

He hadn't expected that Danny would reject him. The though hadn't even crossed his mind.

* * *

Jazz was scared, worried, and close to breaking down. Her parents were dead, her brother was gone, and she was in the house with the person who had caused everything. 

She had insisted that she stay here, even when the police asked her repeatedly to reconsider, so that if Danny came back she would know immediately. They had eventually left her alone, she was over 21, and told her that if she saw anything out of the ordinary to call them.

Phantom hadn't showed himself, so she could say that she hadn't _seen_ anything, but there was evidence that he was around. Things suddenly scattered everywhere, the shower running, and food disappearing from the refrigerator. He was still here.

Jazz wasn't really sure what to do. She knew that no one would believe her if she told them about Phantom, not if she told the truth, but there was no evidence that she could show otherwise. The lab had been thoroughly cleaned after the police were through with it. If only because the blood would have started to smell horribly.

So she hadn't done anything. Just sat and waited for Danny to come back.

She had to hope. Hope that Phantom would decide that she wasn't the one he was after. That she was insignificant enough to leave alive for a little bit longer.

* * *

One week. 

It had been one week since Danny had run from that bloody room.

He was close to dying, he had to be. Wasn't it seven days without water before you died?

He didn't know. His brain didn't focus much anymore, it was all kind of fuzzy, and whatever he had been thinking about tended to be forgotten quickly.

Almost everything anyway.

Danny still saw his parent's dead, blood staining the lab, and Phantom sitting in the middle of it. Laughing and playing in the blood, not a care in the world.

It was the only thing that was constant. He couldn't tell you what day it was, or where he was other then the vague 'around here,' and he was certain that there was something nearby. Waiting for him to die so it could eat his insides.

Danny couldn't throw up anymore; there was nothing left to come up.

He giggled, the lack of food and water making him hysterical, and picked up a sharpened twig.

It was sharp; he'd made it that way. It made him giggle to see his own blood run down his arms, almost like a repentance, and see the patterns etched there.

Soon he'd be with his mommy and daddy, and then they would be together again. Nothing would be able to hurt them, or separate them, and everything would be good again.

Something niggled at the back of his mind. There was something he was forgetting.

He knew that he wanted to see his mommy and daddy; they talked to him when he slept. They told him that they loved him, that they would see him soon, and that no one would be able to hurt them.

Something kept holding him back, making so he couldn't die, and making it so he couldn't see his parents.

Danny frowned, the twig forgotten for the moment. Why? Why couldn't he go to where he saw his parents? He could see them waving at him…

Why couldn't he go? Every time he tried something stopped him. Like something was holding him back.

It was green, and white and it glowed sometimes. When Danny turned to look though, there was nothing there. Just the empty back of the small cave he'd found, rough pictures scratched into the wall.

Danny whimpered. He was alone now, that was bad, and he didn't want to be alone anymore. His mommy and daddy were waiting for him, when he got to them he wouldn't be alone anymore. Alone was sad.

Alone was very sad.

* * *

Phantom watched Danny go back to gouging his skin with the small stick. So many times the boy had nearly died, only to have Phantom drag him back into the world of the living. So many times Phantom had seen that white whispy form of a soul leaving the body before he pushed it back in. 

Danny couldn't die. Not now, not ever. Phantom wouldn't allow it.

Danny was his. That meant that Danny wasn't allowed to die, that Danny would live just because Phantom told him to.

Because Phantom needed Danny.

So much time to think, to try to understand why Danny had acted out the way he had. To try to understand that even though he hadn't seemed to like his parents all that much, he had still felt connected to them.

Phantom felt bad about cutting that connection, but not that Jack and Maddie had died. He would do it again if he had to. There was nothing more important to him than his freedom.

Or at least, after Danny there was nothing more important.

So he watched, and kept Danny alive. Soon Danny would realize that Phantom was the only one he needed. Soon it would just be them, and everything would be wonderful.

* * *

Jazz was scared. It had been a week and she hadn't heard from Danny, and Phantom had gone as well. 

She didn't know what was happening to her baby brother, or even if he was still alive. She couldn't count on Phantom to help her and she had no one to talk to about anything.

She was terrified that she was the last Fenton left. She had always thought that her parents would be there to talk to, to let her cry on their shoulders, and to protect her from the world.

It was a childish way to look at the world she knew, but it really had felt like that. She still found it hard to believe that her parents weren't coming back. That she would never hear another crash from the lab as Jack let loose another ghost hunting toy he'd invented, or eat one of Maddie's famous chocolate chip cookies.

She shoved her face into Bearbert, it's fur already soaked from her tears, and curled into a ball.

She was alone. Her parents weren't coming back, Danny wasn't coming back, and she was completely alone.

Completely alone.

* * *

He'd seen it again, the glowing green and white thing. It had pulled him back, harder this time then it had been before, and he snapped his head around. 

His vision was blurry, but he saw something… a boy?

It came closer and Danny realized that it was floating, long tail instead of legs and feet, and reached out. His hand touched skin and he expelled a short burst of breath. It was cold!

A hand gripped his and Danny cocked his head. This hand felt familiar, like he had held it before, and he was uncertain as to why. This boy was obviously not one of his parents, yet he felt as though he should know him.

"Danny."

The voice was low and a bit rough, as though it hadn't been used for a time, and it was familiar. He knew it.

"Danny, you have to come back, I won't let you die."

Die? Was that what he was doing here? Danny didn't really remember, it was like something was missing. Something that he was sure was important…

"Danny."

…

"Danny."

…

"Danny."

…

"DannyDannyDannyDannyDanny…"

The voice echoed inside of his head, making him drop to the ground and grab his hair screaming. Nononononononononono…

He wasn't supposed to have found Danny. He was supposed to disappear and leave Danny alone.

"Please."

He'd said that before, with the same tone, and it meant the same thing this time too.

"Please."

Phantom pulled him up gently and wrapped his arms around Danny's waist, drawing him as close as was possible, letting him sob and clutch at Phantom.

"I'm sorry."

Danny didn't stop crying, just gripped Phantom tighter.

"Not that I killed them, but that I didn't understand what they meant to you."

Danny's sobs quieted, though they didn't stop completely, and his body sagged against Phantom's heavily. The lack of food and water, as well as being brought back from death more than once, taking the last of his strength.

Phantom held Danny close as he rose off the ground, Danny's head lolling back before he caught it and flew off, heading towards the FentonWorks.

They reached it quickly, Phantom had flown as fast as he could, and phased through the walls into Danny's room. Phantom put Danny down and went in search of the sister. She would be able to help take care of Danny.

He found Jazz curled up on her bed, the same spot she had been in when he'd left, and shook her roughly.

Her eyes opened slowly, her own fast making her sluggish, and choked back a scream.

Phantom pulled her up, glaring as he did so, and pulled Bearbert from her hold. Discarding the toy with a flick of the wrist.

"You are going to help me take care of Danny."

Jazz shot up, staggering a bit, and grabbed Phantom's shoulder.

"He's here? Where?" Jazz nearly flew out of her room.

Phantom caught her by the hair and jerked, Jazz falling to the floor with a thud.

"Calm down. You won't do any good by slobbering over him."

Jazz rubbed her head but kept quiet. She wasn't going to make Phantom mad for anything, not after he was coming to her for help with Danny.

She stood up slowly.

"What do you want me to do?"

Jazz struggled to keep her voice steady, free of any wavers, and kept her eyes trained on the floor. Clearly indicating that Phantom was the 'master.' She would do whatever she could to be allowed to see Danny again. Even if that meant that she had to sacrifice whatever pride or dignity she had. Danny was worth it.

Phantom sneered. At least the girl understood where she stood with him. Maybe he would let her stay, if she proved useful, and perhaps she would even come to see his point of view with time.

"I need to sleep; you will take care of Danny."

Jazz nodded, her body shaking with excitement, and turned towards Danny's room. Phantom's cruel grin followed her down the hallway before he turned into what had been Jack and Maddie's room.

As soon as Danny was no longer nearly dead, Phantom intended to fully claim him. It was just a matter of time now.

* * *

Kyuugi: Sorry again guys. This chapter seemed to be... ummm... well not as put together as I would have liked. I blame me. 

Iisha: We apologize to our wonderful beta/groupie for posting this without waiting for her responses on my yuckyness, but we felt that we were owing of something to the wonderful readers, even if it might mean that it was more yuckyness then normal.


	11. Death is full of green lights

Kyuugi: Sorry for the wait guys.

Iisha: Yeah, Dumbo here wouldn't get off her ass and work on this.

Kyuugi: But school is out for the summer and I will have mucho time-o to spendo on the story-o.

Iisha: Stop that-o.

Kyuugi: GOOD NEWS!! Your very own Kyu will be performing in a production of CATS as the lovely Jennyanydots aka The Gumbie Cat and random cat #234!!

Iisha: We have a month to get it choreographed and blocked.

Kyuugi: SO EXITING!!!

Iisha: And back to what they really care about. The story.

Kyuugi: This one is a little short, but the story is coming to an end, so hopefully you all wont be too dissapointed.

DISCLAIMER: I NO OWNING!!!

* * *

Chapter 11

If I meant that…

Danny could still see his parents, they weren't as clear as they had been before, but they were crying and yelling now. Not coaxing as they had been before.

Danny shivered. They were scary now, always yelling and trying to grab him, and Danny found he didn't want to go with them as much as he had before.

In fact all he wanted them to do was go away.

"Go away!"

He was scared. Phantom wasn't around to make them stop and they were getting closer, blurry and grabbing, tearing at his clothes and shrieking at him.

"GO AWAY!"

Danny screamed, ripping their hands off his body and scrambling backwards, and tried to run.

He didn't want to go! Not now! Where was Phantom when he needed him!

Danny looked around wildly, trying to find the boy who had always helped him before, but saw nothing but the dark/light abyss that he had come to know as 'home.'

"Phantom!"

Danny was terrified. Terrified of the dark, terrified of the apparitions of his parents, and terrified that he couldn't go back. Back to living, back to waking, back to Phantom.

Back to Phantom.

The name echoed in his mind until it was all he heard. Danny clutched his head, the screams starting again, and began to sob.

"Phantom…please…"

Danny curled into himself.

"Please…"

* * *

Jazz was floating in and out of a doze. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately, first from worry about her little brother's whereabouts, and then from watching over him to make sure he stayed alive.

Jazz didn't know if Danny would make it… it had been nearly 3 days since Phantom brought him in and told her to look after him, and Danny hadn't woken up or even moved.

She was feeding him through a tube right now, one of the few things left in the lab she was grateful for, so at least she knew that he was getting nutrients, but she had no clue as to what had happened in the woods. Or why Danny was in a comatose state.

Her eyes started to tear up again and she wiped them furiously. She had to stay strong for Danny, so that she would be able to take care of him until he woke up.

"Phantom… please…"

Jazz's head shot up.

"Please…"

She carefully touched his cheek, only for him to flinch away. Jazz nearly started crying again from happiness and exhaustion. He might not be fully awake, but this was a good start.

She stood and steadied herself, then ran to the master bedroom, where she knew Phantom was sure to be.

Jazz knocked on the door, her joy at Danny finally waking and exhaustion making her momentarily _forget_ that it WAS the master bedroom, where her parents had slept less then 2 weeks ago.

"What."

Phantom's voice came from behind the closed door.

"Danny said your name!"

Jazz was trying hard not to burst through the door and pull Phantom to Danny's room.

Phantom phased through the door and after a brief look at Jazz sneered.

"Get some sleep. I know he will need more care and I want you semi-functional."

Jazz nodded and walked to her room, each step growing heavier as the adrenaline wore off. She barely made it to her bed, and was asleep seconds after she lay down.

* * *

Phantom was pleased. The girl was proving far more useful then her parents, and much more aware of her position. He would seriously think about allowing her to stay… perhaps Danny would be more cooperative with her here.

Phantom hovered next to Danny, watching him through slit eyes in order to see into the ghost realm Danny was currently stuck on.

Phantom's lip curled in disgust. The parents were still trying to take Danny with them, but it looked like they had only succeeded in making Danny afraid of them. Idiots.

He knew why they didn't pass over into the next realm; they were waiting for Danny to join them. He had nearly died so many times that he was 'stuck' in a realm in between the real realm and the ghost realm, unable to die because Phantom kept pulling him back, unable to live because he still wanted to die.

Phantom reached out and clasped Danny's hand, letting himself phase into the ghost realm, and scowled Maddie and Jack.

"Leave him be, foul humans, you have no claim to anything from the world of the living anymore. Be gone before I cause you eternal suffering."

The ghosts just bared their teeth and hissed, unable to talk because in life Phantom had ripped out their voice boxes before killing them, unable to touch him because his human flesh would burn them, and unable to claw at him because they did not exist in this realm as he did.

Non-corporeal vs. living flesh, and they lost at every turn.

Phantom's sneer never left his face.

* * *

The warmth was there again. Danny remembered this warmth, though only vaguely. It was something that he took comfort in, something that made him feel safe and loved.

A voice, telling his parents to leave him be, to go away and not come back.

Danny knew he loved his parents. They had taken care of him and been there for a long time, that he remembered, but now they were scary and mean. Scary and mean and Danny didn't want to go with them.

"Danny, time to wake up."

Didn't he know that voice? He'd heard it before and sometime recently… Should be know that voice?

It was soothing and comforting, making him forget about his parents for the moment.

"Come on Danny, they can't hurt you."

Danny curled into himself even more. How did this voice know that?

But he did feel safe… and he KNEW he knew that voice…

"Danny!"

It was more forceful, but not scary, like the voice was ordering him to wake up.

Danny was unsure still, but he knew the voice and he knew that anything would be better then here.

A hand grasped his and Danny's eyes fluttered open. Everything was blurry at first, but there was a greenish glow in front of him.

Danny blinked a few times and cocked his head as the image grew clearer. Didn't he know this person too?

"Danny, are you feeling better?"

All at once Danny realized who it was and launched himself into Phantom's arms, crying and holding on for all he could.

Phantom had killed his parents.

Phantom had killed his parents.

Phantom had…

Phantom had kept him alive.

Phantom hadn't let him die, hadn't let him go with his parents.

Phantom cared for him enough to keep him here.

It was flawed logic, and not at all that sane in thinking, but Danny was past caring about what was sane and what was in touch. Right now, Phantom was his lifeline, and he wasn't about to let Phantom slip through his grasp.

Phantom grasped him back in a tight grip, the sneer gone from his face and his own tears dropping into Danny's hair.

Danny pushed up into a kiss, and they clutched at each other until they were sure the other was real and there to stay.

* * *

They were both lying on Danny's bed, curled into each others embrace. Danny, finally in a restful sleep free of ghosts, still had the tear marks on his face. While Phantom was awake and merely watching Danny sleep.

Phantom wasn't sure on what to do next. He had never really planned everything out besides the whole killing of the parents and he wasn't entirely sure if Danny was still even sane at this point, he was sure Jazz wasn't.

So he was thinking.

He knew that he still had some revenge to seek, if not on his behalf then on Danny's for sure.

Phantom hadn't realized how much Danny meant to him, not until Danny had nearly died.

Not until he realized that Danny was the reason he still lived.

A strange though in his mind, and not one he entertained with pleasure, but it was a fact. Without Danny Phantom wouldn't even be here. He would have been tossed aside like the other 'used' experiments, to decompose in some putrid toxic waste field far away.

Phantom owed something to Danny.

Phantom needed to give something to Danny, something that showed Danny that he needed him.

He stroked Danny's hair softly, his thoughts jumbling inside him until they became more of a problem then the answer he was trying to seek. Phantom's eyebrows furrowed and his mouth grew tight, his body tensing up in a way that it hadn't before.

Phantom worked to relax, suddenly unsure of himself. This had never happened before, and he wasn't sure what was wrong. His muscles were tightening and he could feel them begin to cramp up.

Phantom was getting scared now.

"Danny!"

This time it was a cry from him and all at once he was back during the first few weeks of his life, calling out for Danny as he left the room and the parents came in. Fear in his eyes and hope that Danny would turn around and help him.

He didn't, he hadn't, not once.

Anger, all at once Phantom's fear turned to anger and he clenched his teeth. All those times when Danny had left him, for everything that had been done to him…

The parents weren't enough, Phantom needed more. He needed more to feel like he was in control, like he wasn't still stuck in that god awful bed. Strapped down and bloodied, broken vocal chords, broken spirit, broken body.

His muscles were still tight, but he pushed himself to his knees. His anger making him uncaring to the pain it caused.

Phantom looked down at Danny with a look of rage, his eyes glowing neon green and his hair whipping around him in an unfelt breeze. Danny would pay too.

Not with his life, though Phantom's hands almost itched to curl around Danny's neck, but with his body.

So many times they had kissed, and so many times they had shared time in a bed, talking and laughing at each other. Whenever Danny felt it got to far he would stop it, often leaving both of them frustrated and Danny embarrassed.

Danny's body was precious to him, and that made it more desirable to Phantom.

And right now, all Phantom desired was that body.


	12. I Smell Anger

Danny's sleep was dreamless at first, only the presence of Phantom wavering around him, but feelings of anger and hurt began to almost swirl around him. Danny inwardly curled into himself, trying to block out the feelings, and covered his ears.

Anger and hurt, anger and hurt… the two emotions kept swirling around, almost overwhelming him with their power.

It was only a dream! Danny pushed out with his own feelings. Feelings of betrayal and distrust, feelings of lust and the need for physical connection, all wrapped themselves around him like a barrier.

And Danny pushed back.

The other emotions whirled around him before their movements became erratic, each starting to glow neon green before hurling themselves at Danny's barrier.

With each blow Danny felt himself grow weaker, and felt the other emotions more strongly. They were so strong, and so familiar…

Because they were Phantom's.

Danny reeled under another blow. Why? What had happened to make Phantom turn on him?

Danny was roughly shaken into awareness, eyes snapping open at the contact. Phantom was straddling his hips, eyes neon green and his hair snapping with power, a look of anger and hurt twisted onto his face.

Danny flinched… and Phantom grinned.

* * *

Jazz wasn't at all sure why she was uneasy, but it was there, and growing stronger with each minute.

She cuddled up to Bearbert and burrowed under her covers. She knew that whatever it was had something to do with Phantom, and she had no inclination to die anytime soon.

Jazz hadn't really gone anywhere, nor done anything, since Phantom had killed her parents. She hadn't wanted to, understandably, and it was almost as though she had given up on herself.

It wasn't hard, really, to stop being Jazz. To not do homework, to not read anything, and to only go out when Phantom told her to get something.

She had gone from independent to slave, and she didn't really care. By all rights she should have died when her parents had, but then she wouldn't have been here for Danny…

Then she wouldn't have Danny.

Danny was her brother, and the only living relative that acknowledged her. She was here on Phantom's 'mercy', but she was still here, still able to be with Danny, still able to _live _with Danny.

Jazz prayed to God she would be here for Danny for as long as she could.

* * *

Phantom stared down at Danny, angry and cold, and bared his teeth. The fear on the other's face making him upset and exuberant at the same time.

He wanted this, needed this, and he was going to finally get it.

Danny cringed at the malicious smile that shone down on him. He had no idea what had upset Phantom so much, nor did he know why he was the target, but it was apparent that Phantom was angry at him.

Phantom phased Danny's clothes off and threw them into a corner of the room, then did the same with his own meager clothing.

His eyes glinted and he dragged his tongue down Danny's chest, ignoring the weak attempts at escape, and pushed down with all his body weight. Shoving Danny into the mattress and leaving red marks on his arms.

Danny had his eyes screwed shut and was crying. Not wanting to believe that Phantom would do this, and feeling his body respond to the harsh treatment.

Phantom ground against Danny, causing them both to arch into each other, and Danny felt something wet drip onto his collarbone. His eyes opened and he saw Phantom crying.

Green liquid splashed down, and Danny found his arms weren't being held as firmly. Rather, they were in more of an embrace, something that felt more…

Danny blinked and when he opened his eyes again they were pressed against each other, one of his own arms wound around Phantom's neck as they continued to thrust and grind, and Phantom clutching him as though he was afraid Danny would leave again.

Then the anger was back, though the tears continued, and Phantom dragged his teeth across Danny's jaw. Angry red marks following the path the teeth had made.

Danny's screams echoed through the house.

* * *

Jazz covered her ears with her pillow and cursed Phantom till her throat was sore and her voice raspy. It wasn't enough. To her Phantom needed nothing more than to die, then she and Danny would be able to live as best they could.

Though she wasn't sure if either of them would still be sane... or if that even mattered.

The screams had quieted, but Jazz had no way of knowing if that was because he was asleep, or dead, and she itched to run to the master bedroom to find out.

If Danny was dead then she wouldn't need to cater to that god awful creature anymore, and she would welcome any death he gave her.

If Danny wasn't dead… and Phantom killed her for running into the bedroom, then she wouldn't be able to be with him. She was sure Phantom would destroy her ghost, or at the very least use one of her father's weapons on her. Neither of which seemed pleasant.

Jazz stayed awake as long as she could, listening for a sound that would tell her Danny was alive.

It was hours before she heard anything and at first she couldn't tell what it was. A very slight sound, faint, and not one she had been expecting.

It was dripping.

Something was dripping.

Jazz huddled in her bed, Bearbert squished against her chest as though he would be able to protect her if Phantom came in.

When the door opened, however, it wasn't Phantom who stepped through it.

It was Danny.

* * *

Danny was happy, so happy! He finally had gotten what he wanted, and it made him very happy indeed.

Phantom had given him a gift, he'd said, and Danny would find out what it was if he was a good boy. Danny wanted to be a good boy!

At first it had hurt, and Danny had cried… he remembered it made him scream it hurt so bad, but then everything went black and when he woke up he felt wonderful. Like nothing could ever be bad again.

Danny heard a noise, crying, and cocked his head in confusion. Who was here besides him and Phantom?

Danny walked towards the crying, walking carefully on the wood floors. They seemed slippery and he didn't want to fall, that would cause a lot of noise, he remembered that that other boy didn't like noise.

He reached a door and listened, the small sobs coming from the other side, and slowly opened the door.

There was a girl on the other side, huddled in a bed and crying into something. She looked at him as he entered, her mouth open and eyes wide.

Danny walked over to her and touched her forehead, pushing her back till she was lying on the bed. He leaned over and kissed Jazz's lips, patting her head as he did so.

The blood that was dripping from his body splashed onto her face, causing Jazz to flinch, and seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

Jazz pushed him back carefully and looked at Danny's face, gasping as she found herself staring into two very blood-red eyes.

The eyes looked back at her curiously, before the owner patted her head one last time and started to walk back out the door.

Jazz couldn't move. Danny was acting quite unlike himself, and had a pair of new eyes to match the confusion. It was like watching a building fall down in front of her. Knowing that there were people inside and being unable to stop it or save them.

Jazz put her face back down into Bearbert, and began to cry once more.


	13. The end is Nigh

The Ending is Nigh…

Danny was so happy! Not only was he here with Phantom, he also could do everything Phantom could! He stopped and looked around, his new eyes showing him not only the world of the living, but also that of the dead.

Danny giggled, reaching out to a passing ghost and grabbing a transparent arm with childish delight, and laughed even harder when he saw the ghost screaming as the essence was ripped from it's form.

Danny inhaled deeply, sucking in the frigid soul with relish. They tasted so good! Danny wanted more; he wanted to eat every ghost he saw! Phantom had told him not to though… said it was bad for Danny to have too much before he was completely changed.

He wrinkled his nose at that. Danny didn't really know what Phantom was talking about, and he didn't really care, all he knew was that he wanted more.

But… Danny was a good boy, and he always did what Phantom said. Phantom loved him, he'd said so to Danny several times, and Danny knew he loved Phantom. So Danny would be a good boy for Phantom and follow all the rules, and Phantom would always love Danny.

So Danny wistfully watched another ghost float by and started walking down the hall to where Jazz was. Jazz was his sister, she and Phantom had both told him so, and that meant that they had the same parents. Though when he asked about them he never got an answer, Danny wasn't worried, Phantom had said they were bad people and when he'd asked Jazz she hadn't said anything about them, so Phantom must have been right.

He opened the door to Jazz's room and stepped inside. She was sleeping, something she did a lot of the time, but Danny walked over and kissed her on the forehead. Giggling as he did so.

Jazz opened her eyes slowly and when she saw Danny she gave him a small smile, patting the bed for him to sit down, and sat up.

"Hey Danny, whatcha been up to?"

At first Danny didn't answer, Jazz always seemed to get upset when he talked about how yummy ghosts were, so he thought about what he'd done. He and Phantom had played, then Phantom had left to do something and Danny had wandered around the house in search of something to do.

Danny shook his head at his sister, "Nothing much! Phantom and I played this morning, but then he had to go…"

Danny always got sad when Phantom left, but Phantom assured him that it was necessary so that they would always be together. Danny liked that, so he stayed behind and waited, often impatiently, for Phantom's return.

Jazz winced at 'play' but kept her mouth shut and a smile on her face. Danny liked talking to her, and she had long learned what Phantom's 'playing' was, so she always smiled and tried to steer the subject towards different things.

"I thought I'd make your favorite for dinner tonight, Mac and Cheese, does that sounds good?"

Danny grinned and nodded his head vigorously. He loved it when Jazz cooked for him, she always made the best meals… outside of ghosts of course.

* * *

Phantom had given Danny a gift. Now, Danny would always be with Phantom, and Phantom wouldn't have to worry about Danny anymore.

Phantom drifted along the deserted streets of Amity Park, not really doing anything other than watching the trapped ghosts of people who either refused to believe they were dead or were trying to exact their revenge for being killed so suddenly. Some, he noticed, had gone on to the next world. Either to serve their penance or to rejoice in the beauty they were given as a reward. Phantom left those alone. He was mad, but even in his insanity he knew his limits. Phantom was a very powerful 'Ghost', but he wasn't the most powerful, he had no desire to awaken the anger of those who were. He had his territory, and they left him to his whims as long as he kept within the rules.

Not that Amity Park mattered in the long run. Phantom really hadn't cared for people, other than Danny, and now there weren't any. He still had to bring home food, neither Danny nor Jazz could live without physical sustenance each day, and even he had to eat once in a while to keep his physical form.

'Tch, such a nuisance.'

His physical body wasn't one he cared for. If he had been certain he could exist without it he would have gotten rid of it long ago. A created body with imperfections he hated.

Jazz would have to die. That Phantom knew. Even as she was a help and companion for Danny, she was keeping him grounded to this place and keeping an eye on Phantom. Not that Phantom worried about that. It was more for the sake of completion than anything. The order he required wasn't complete.

Complete isolation.

Complete devotion.

* * *

Jazz was humming to herself in the kitchen. They were running out of food again, even though both Danny and Phantom seemed to be eating little to nothing at all. She would have to go out and search for something that had been missed. That or ask Phantom to get something, which wasn't a joyous prospect.

The mac and cheese finished, she set the pot on the table and took out the plates and forks. The water was nearly gone as well, she noticed.

Danny sat happily, grinning as he banged his fork on the table. "Maccheese! Maccheese!"

Jazz grinned and set two steaming bowls in front of them, laughing when Danny began to gobble down the slimy noodles.

In the middle of a bite Danny's head shot up. He immediately put his fork down and ran upstairs to the master bedroom.

Jazz cringed, her happy feelings gone. She knew that meant Phantom was back.

* * *

Phantom phased into the bedroom to find Danny waiting happily for him. Danny ran over and put his arms around Phantom, squeezing him as tight as he could.

"I missed you."

It was the same thing he said every time Phantom returned, but it always made Phantom feel good. Oh yes, he had completely taken Danny over. He had completely broken him.

Or fixed him. It could all mean so many things.

It wouldn't be long, of course, until the final changes had been made and human Danny was no more.

Phantom giggled in an obscene, madlike gesture that seemed to reach for sanity and fall very short. But then, his sanity had never been a sure thing.

Danny reached up and kissed Phantom, blood-red eyes snapping and glowing with the movement. It took Phantom all of a second to throw them both onto the bed.

Killing Jazz could wait, sex was more pleasurable now.

* * *

Jazz had gone to bed feeling uneasy.

Danny hadn't returned downstairs after he left and Phantom hadn't made an appearance. After they'd finished their… well she couldn't call it procreation… their 'encounter' they had kept the noise to a bare minimum. Something Jazz was both grateful for and wary about.

She was tired, Bearbert and the covers were warm, and even with her trepidations she didn't find it hard to fall asleep.

* * *

Phantom lifted a bloody hand from the girl's chest, still holding her warm heart.

He had given her a meal alone with Danny, then even allowed her to fall asleep before ripping her heart out. He watched her newly formed ghost rise from the body, and gave her a few seconds to acclimate herself.

She turned and glared at him, "I hope God kills you."

Phantom sneered, "Silly girl. God doesn't deal with those already in Hell!"

At that Jazz' whole body snapped to attention as she was pulled towards limbo.

Maddie and Jack appeared and tried to pull her back, but Jazz had always been the smart one in the family. She pulled her hands from their grasp and mouthed 'I love you' before disappearing.

At Phantom's swipe they zoomed away, flicking their fingers in the most obscene gestures they knew.

It was almost complete.

* * *

Danny was tired.

He had been tired ever since he and Phantom had 'loved'. Not the normal tired either, but a truly bone-draining tired.

He'd asked Phantom about it only to get a smile and a promise for 'later'.

His arms and legs were heavy, his head hurt, and his insides just felt… squishy. Like they were all just in the way of each other and none of them knew enough to move.

Danny rolled over in the bed and petted the blood stain on the sheet. His blood stain that reminded him that Phantom always did what he said.

Always kept his promises.

* * *

Nearly finished.

I was like a mantra.

Nearly finished.

Jazz was dead, Danny was finished, and there wasn't a single human left alive in Amity Park. Of course those that had left were safe, if only slightly mentally scarred, but at least they were alive.

That did mean that the food was nearly gone. He and Danny still needed food, though infrequently, to sustain imperfect bodies.

Phantom had been trying for months to figure a way to get rid of this need, this weakness, but so far his search had yielded nothing.

Souls would keep their ghostly bodies from dissipating, food kept their physical bodies from dying. If he wanted to keep his physical powers, he had to feed the body.

* * *

"This is Channel 7, Action News reporting on the strange phenomenon that has scientists all over clamoring to research it.

Amity Park, once a great thriving city, has been reduced to nothing more than abandoned buildings and feral animals.

It seems that there was a mass murder that killed off every single one of it's inhabitants."

"No one knows exactly WHY every person in Amity Park was killed, only that these days there is an ever widening circle around the city that invites death to those who trespass it."

"Another traveling family was found dead not 20 miles from the border of the city. As per the pattern, they were all brutally dismembered and all of the items in the van have been taken.

One researcher says he knows, however, exactly WHAT whatever is taking the items is looking for."

"Vat to ALL vamily's take on trivs in se auto. FOOD. All ov sem. Joo have to have FOOD for se kiddies, Mom has her tea, Dad has his covvee, and se kiddies has all sehr snacks."

"But professor, how do you know that it's food that this thing is looking for. Most family's now-a-days have electronics in their vehicle. From the radio to dvd players, game stations to mp3s, how can you know that its FOOD that is what is being looked for.

"Is all very simple. Food is sustenance for living! Joo take any creature and sey will surely take se food over se elektroniks. Joo drive two vans out sehr and joo see!"

* * *

20 Years later.

A giggling Danny and a silent Phantom phased through a wall of a supermarket.

Their forms were no longer gangly or childish, rather were slightly taller and more mature looking even as thin as they were.

Over the past years people had stopped driving near Amity Park. Forcing Danny and Phantom to range further out to get food to fuel their steadily weakening bodies. Getting the food wasn't a challenge, it was more of an inconvenience that they had put off and off until it had become necessary or their physical bodies would have died.

For about 5 years they had in-frequented this place. It was easy to get in, easy to get what they needed, and easy to get out. The fact that it was over 150 miles from Amity Park was what made it an unwanted trip.

They each took their sacks and went to work. Uncaring as the security cameras passed over them. The red light blinking as it caught movement. The police had come the first few times, but after their threats and weapons proved ineffectual against GHOSTS, they had quickly just learned to let Danny and Phantom take what they wanted.

Done, they silently slipped up through the roof and glided away.

* * *

Danny and Phantom glided through the literal 'ghost town' they inhabited. Vegetation had grown over all the old buildings, wild animals abounded, and angry ghosts flipped up their fingers at the duo as they passed.

A grin from Phantom as he slurped up the soul, relishing the savory taste of anger and fear he got.

Danny gave Phantom a little shove and took off through the city, Phantom following close behind. Both of their eyes flashing and snapping with power as they flew through the trees and crumbling concrete. Half rotted corpses of animals, human bones, and rusting metal.

This was their paradise.

This was their insanity.

This was their world.

* * *

Clockwork sighed as he looked through his mirror.

Somehow he almost thought he preferred a dead Danny to this one. It was done, however, and there was nothing he could do. The reversal had already been made once. To do so again would be condemning himself to be erased. Unhappy though he was, his existence trumped any humans.

* * *

Phantom looked up at a blood red sky.

It was time.

The apocalypse was nigh, and he and Danny would see no more of those chosen to enter eternal bliss.

Food would be more of a problem, but he supposed that he could learn to eat raw animal flesh. It wasn't like there would be a lack of ghosts, after all.

* * *

Danny cackled at the temerity of the last of the human race. They stood their ground with their scrounged weapons. Thinking that it would scare him off.

Phantom fizzed into existence beside him and together they relished in the utter and final destruction of mankind.

* * *

Together, they watched the door to the world of souls close.

Earth was once again an Eden for the animals. Lush vegetation and huge, long lived creatures were everywhere.

They were the only other 'living' things, if one could call them truly living.

It was the end for them though. With no souls to consume, their powers would fade as quickly as their bodies were. God had taken their reign and left them with nothing.

Nothing.

* * *

Danny clutched Phantom as they felt their bodies shut down.

They had done all they could, but a malnourished human stands no chance against a 400 pound creature and they had eaten nothing but plants for weeks now.

They were literally decaying alive.

Phantom clumsily reached up for a kiss, body too heavy to do much more than brush his lips to Danny's.

"I hate you."

It was their endearment.

Danny had created Phantom, and Phantom had created Danny. Neither would exist without the other.

Neither would be dying without the other.

"I hate you too"

* * *

FINALLY DONE!

I am so sorry to all those who kept up with this story. Being a new mom means I'm trying to balance my time and time for everything else. This takes bottom rung on that list, so I am sorry it took so long to finish.

I can't say it ended up how I'd planned it, or even how I wanted it to turn out. But this is what you get folks. Un-beta'd and un-edited.

There will not be a sequel, as you could hopefully tell, however I am working on a new story.

I can't tell you when it will be out, or anything about update status but I will tell you that I DO have time for a few one shots.

So as a gift to all readers who stuck with this for so long, please tell me what you would like in a one shot and I'll get it back to you as soon as I can! (A month at most :P)

Thank you all again!

Kyuugi & Iisha


	14. Final thank you

I've had some people ask about some specific things in this fic I wanted to clear up.

1. When Danny enters Jazz's room and has red eyes it is because Phantom literally pumped ectoplasm into Danny during sex. Ecoplasm is the only substance Phantom has,  
therefore it takes the place of all other bodily fluids he would normally have.

This being said, Phantom is changing Danny's body's chemistry to become more ghost like and less human like. Because 'evil danny' has red eyes, Phantom made the change in Danny by forcing his body to quickly adapt to large amounts of ectoplasm forced into the blood vessels in his eyes, effectively breaking and permanently damaging them before 'killing' or 'deadening' them. To that end they are unliving body parts suspended in the unchanging ghost like state Phantom's body is in. As long as the body is provided sustenance, there is no decay and therefore the eyes stay the color they were 'killed' in. Red.

2. Phantom's possesiveness is directly related to Danny himself. Danny was the first person to show Phantom kindness, so he was the being Phantom attached himself to.

Essentially a 'bond'. An unwavering physical and emotional attachment that requires a certain amount of leway on either side to 'fill' the coiffers with the right kind of payment. IE touch, emotional support, spirtual support. Phantom craves this from Danny in ever increasing amounts until he feels that Danny is literally starving him by paying attention to anyone else. (parents, etc)

3. Jazz vs Jack & Maddie. When Phantom killed Jazz she ascended to a higher plane. Call it what you will, she essentially went to 'Heaven'. The ghostly plane is 'limbo' and the plane Phantom resides in is 'Hell'. Jazz let go of her physical holds, guilt, unhappiness, regret, etc and was able to rise from the plane of 'limbo' to the plane of 'heaven'. Jack and Maddie are stuck in 'limbo' because they refuse to give up their earthly possesions, namely Danny, and keep their regret, guilt and hatred. They will stay in such plane until this has been resolved or it grows until it meets the standard for 'Hell'.

4. No, I will not be writing any more in this particular world. I love Danny/Phantom, and will probably write something for them again in the future, but I don't think there is anything in this world that is salvagable to create a sequel. I also will not be writing any sidefics, prequels or drabbles for this world unless such mood strikes me. So please stop asking about it.

Thanks to you all for reading my lovely pretty thing! I so appreciate everything you each have said in your reviews and pms, I do love to get them so.

I have a few more ideas for fics, so let me know if you want to hear more from me!

Cam out!


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